-'  ■■■  :.>iV.'      '    ry 


PRESENTED  TO  THE  LIBRARY 


OF 


PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


BY 


Professor  Henry  van  Dyke,  D.D      liU  D 


I    I 


■f,i3':-V:'V",.%;^T::  :V^';  .i 


-V'":; 


JSooV.s  In:  Ibenry  Marb  IBeecber. 

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BIBLE  STUDIES 


READINGS    IX    THE    EARLY     ROOKS    OF    THE    OLD 

TESTAMENT,    WITH    FAMILIAR    COMMENT. 

GIVEN    IN    1S78-9 


KV  / 

HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 


EDITED 
FROM    STENOGRAPHIC    NOTES    OF    T.    J,    ELLINWOOD 


JOHN  R.  HOWARD 


NEW  YORK 
FORDS,   HOWARD,  &   HULBERT 

1893 


COPVKKillT,    IN    1892, 

Bv  T.  J.   KLLINWOOD. 


PREFACE. 


The  lectures  on  the  early  Old  Testament  books  con- 
tained in  this  volume  were  delivered  in  Plymouth  Church, 
on  Sunday  evenings,  during  the  autumn,  winter,  and  spring 
of  1878-79,  and  were  given,  it  may  be  presumed,  in  accord- 
ance with  a  comprehensive  plan,  cherished  by  Mr.  Beecher, 
which  included  the  desire,  repeatedly  expressed  by  him, 
that  he  might  find  opportunity  to  preach  a  course  of  ser- 
mons on  the  later  historical  books,  the  Prophets,  and  the 
Psalms.  That  this  desire  was  not  realized  cannot  but  be 
deeply  regretted  by  those  who  are  aware  of  the  power  and 
skill  of  Mr.  Beecher  as  an  expositor  of  Scripture,  and  who 
therefore  can  form  some  conception  of  how  he  would  have 
handled  those  topics,  and  especially  the  themes  suggested 
by  the  matchless  hymns  of  David. 

These  Lectures  were  not  published  immediately  after 
their  deliver}^,  because  at  that  time  a  series  of  Mr.  Beech- 
er's  morning  sermons  was  being  issued  in  his  paper,  the 
Christian  Union ;  but,  following  my  usual  custom  as  re- 
porter of  his  utterances,  I  preserved  full  stenographic  notes 
of  them.  It  was  evident  that  a  more  than  transient  pur- 
pose actuated  their  author  in  giving  them  forth,  and  from 
the  first  I  felt  that  they  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  perish. 
After  Mr.  Beecher's  death  this  feeling  took  on  the  form  of 
a  conviction  of  duty,  which  has  resulted  in  their  prepa- 
ration for  the  press  ;  and  they  are  now,  with  the  consent 
and  approval  of  the  family  of  Mr.  Beecher,  offered  to  the 
public. 

It  is  probable  that  of  the  many  hundreds  of  reported  dis- 
courses of  Henry  Ward  Beecher  no  series  could  be  selected 

iii 


4  PREFACE. 

that  would  be  perused  willi  greater  interest  or  profit  than 
these  '*  Bible  Studies;" 

The  present  time,  when  there  is  such  widespread  and 
earnest  attention  paid  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  would 
seem  most  opportune  for  tlie  appearance  of  this  work  ;  and 
it  is  sent  out  in  the  hope  that  through  its  instrumentality 
multitudes  will  be  led  to  a  better  understanding  of  the 
Word  of  God,  and  a  greater  love  and  reverence  for  it. 

T.  J.  ELLINWOOD. 


INTRODUCTION. 

BY    THE    EDITOR. 


Probably  the  thing  which  will  most  surprise  those  who  for 
the  first  time  have  knowledge  of  these  Bible  Studies  will  be  their 
modern  spirit.  The  world  of  scholarship,  criticism,  and  theolog- 
ical thought  moves  fast  when  once  it  starts  ;  and  since  1878,  when 
these  lectures  were  delivered,  great  advances  have  been  made, 
especially  in  the  larger  freedom  of  utterance  which  men  of  rever- 
ent love  for  the  Bible  and  of  lives  consecrated  to  the  service  of 
God  deem  it  their  duty  to  take.  The  necessity  laid  upon  them 
by  the  new  philosophies  of  the  divine  methods — 

"  That  to  the  height  of  this  great  argument 
[They]  may  assert  eternal  Providence, 
And  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  men," 

— has  driven  them  into  bolder  denial  of  the  mechanical  theo- 
ries of  inspiration  ;  the  amanuensis-theories  of  Bible-writing ;  and 
the  infantile  conceptions  of  the  ancient  Hebrews  concerning  their 
national  deity,  Jehovah,  as  binding  upon  the  faith  and  conscience 
of  men  after  two  thousand  years'  study  of  the  ampler  revelations 
made  by  "Jesus,  the  Christ  of  God." 

Popular  hostile  critics  of  Christianity  have  found  their  chief 
success  in  holding  it  responsible  for  a  belief  in  every  statement  of 
these  artless,  childlike  records  as  indubitable  facts,  and  in  ex- 
hibiting the  savage  cruelties  committed  by  the  early  Israelites 
under  "  immediate  divine  commandment "  as  inconsistent  with 
the  professed  teachings  of  Christ ;  thus  claiming  a  demonstration 
that  neither  the  Old  Testament  nor  the  New  is  of  divine  authority, 
since  they  stand  as  one,  and  both  cannot  be  true.  And  foolish 
Christians,  in  captivity  to  the  form  of  sound  words  as  to  "all 
Scripture"  being  "given  by  inspiration  of  God"  have  largely 
accepted  this  cunning  dilemma,  and  contended  earnestly  for  the 
faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints.  Of  late  years,  however,  phi- 
lology, literary  criticism,  and  the  study  of  the  past  with  an  ever- 


6  IXTRODUCTION. 

widening  sense  of  historical  perspective,  have  changed  the  views 
of  scholars ;  and — especially  during  the  past  five  years — have 
resulted  in  diffusing  an  entirely  new  atmosphere,  enabling  those 
who  are  not  scholars  to  comprehend  something  of  the  divine 
methods  of  creation  by  growth,  in  things  spiritual  and  in  the 
mental,  moral,  and  social  nature  of  man  as  well  as  in  the  physical 
world.  So  that,  although  the  views  of  these  Bible  Studies  will 
not  be  new  to  scholars  or  to  those  of  the  laity  who  keep  abreast 
of  the  times,  they  will  be  almost  novel  to  a  multitude  of  devout 
Bible  students,  while  full  of  fresh  suggestion  and  invigorating 
thought  even  to  those  who  have  long  held  the  same  position. 

Moreover,  their  especial  value  lies  along  the  line  not  of  destruc- 
tion but  of  conservation.  As  a  Presbyterian  minister  wrote  to 
Mr.  Beecher  just  after  the  issue  of  his  volume  of  sermons  on 
"  Evolution  and  Religion  ": — 

"It  seems  to  me  you  keep  all  the  most  choice  and  precious  things, 
only  placing  them  on  the  right  foundation ;  and  how  they  can  stand  much 

longer  on  the  old  foundation  I  do  not  see Surely  your  book 

will  bring  light  to  many." 

The  whole  force  of  these  lectures  goes  to  throw  off  the  cramp- 
ing theory  of  "  inspiration  "  which  makes  God  responsible  for  all 
the  evil  that  was  done  by  the  inchoate  Hebrew  people  in  his 
name.  Thus  the  student  is  left  free  to  follow  this  master  exposi- 
tor in  rediscovering  and  newly  appreciating  the  wisdom,  the 
goodness,  the  grand  foundation-work  of  Moses  under  the  Divine 
impulse,  which  both  served  to  build  up  the  Israelitish  nation 
and  has  entered  into  many  of  the  soundest  elements  of  modern 
civilization.  To  quote  another  opinion  as  to  the  "Evolution  and 
Religion  "  :  "  Many  will  owe  to  this  illumination  ho  less  than  the 
renewal  of  a  lost  belief." 

Whoever  will  at  this  date  read  Mr.  Beecher's  sermons  and 
addresses  in  the  time  of  our  Civil  War  will  not  only  be  moved  by 
their  eloquence,  he  will  be  interested  and  surprised  at  their  solid 
conservatism.  In  the  realm  of  civil  polity  as  well  as  in  that  of 
religion  and  theology,  the  man  wrought  out  his  own  noble,  gener- 
ous, honest,  essentially  just  nature;  and,  when  he  found  what  he 
believed  to  be  truth,  flamed  it  out  upon  his  fellow  men  with  the 
effective  contagion  of  human  sympathy  and  an  unwavering  faith 
in  God  and  the  goodness  of  God's  ways. 

There  must  have  been  a  mighty  satisfaction  dwelling  in  the 
soul  of  such  a  man-helper  as  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Despite  the 
innumerable  criticisms  breaking  upon  him  from  every  quarter,— 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

some,  just,  which  he  tried  to  heed  ;  the  most,  unjust,  which  he 
regarded  much  as  boys  do  snowballs  in  a  winter  fight, — through- 
out his  entire  life  he  was  inspirited  by  a  continuous  acclaim  of 
gratitude,  many-voiced  as  the  ocean,  from  men  and  women  who 
o-ladly  owned  to  him  their  debts  of  deliverance  from  darkness  and 
spiritual  captivity.  Amid  the  buffets  of  blame,  which  no  man  of 
such  abounding  activity  would  expect  to  escape,  he  received 
also  unstinted  praise  and  outspoken  admiration.  This  doubtless 
pleased  him,  for,  though  not  a  vain  man,  he  was  an  amiable  one. 

But   neither  praise  nor  blame  weighed  much  with    him.     His 
whole  being  was  devoted  to  serving  his  kind.     And  the  solid  fact 

based   upon   the  ceaseless   testimonies   of    thousands   during 

twenty,  thirty,  forty,  fifty  years,  as  his  public  life  went  on— 
that  he  was  successfully  doing  what  God  had  inspired  him  with 
the  desire  to  do,  must  have  brought  to  him  a  supreme  content- 
ment ;  must  have  been  a  part  of  that  astonishing  reserve  of  spirit- 
ual power,  that  kept  his  head  erect  and  his  face  serene  while  his 
pulpit  work  went  on  with  increased  richness  and  effectiveness,  in 
the  midst  of  troubles  that  should  seemingly  have  crushed  him. 

The  particular  series  of  Sunday  evening  talks  about  the  early 
books  of  the  Old  Testament  which  form  the  present  volume,  given 
in  the  winter  and  spring  of  1878-9,  were  taken  down  stenograph- 
ically  as  they  fell  from  Mr.  Beecher's  lips,  by  Mr.  T.  J.  Ellinwood 
—for  nearly  thirty  years  his  special  reporter.  While  going  over 
them  in  preparation  for  the  press,  I  have  been  impressed  with 
the  feeling  that  in  Mr.  Ellinwood's  heart,  too,  there  must  be  a 
large  portion  of  satisfaction,  in  the  fact  that  his  keen  sense, 
intelligent  appreciation,  and  skillful  hand  have  been  the  means 
of  preserving  to  the  world  the  chief  part  of  Mr.  Beecher's  public 
ministrations,  during  their  most  eventful  and  influential  period. 
It  is  due  to  Mr.  Ellinwood  to  say  that,  while  great  numbers  of 
Mr.  Beecher's  sermons,  lectures,  prayer-meeting  talks,  public 
addresses,  etc.,  were  reported  by  him  as  a  matter  of  business 
engagement,  either  with  Mr.  Beecher  or  his  publishers,  there 
were  a  multitude  of  others  that  he  took  down  for  the  mere  pleas- 
ure of  taking  them,  and  in  the  hope  that  at  some  time  they  would  be 
used.  The  present  series  were  among  this  latter  class  ;  and  surely, 
those  who  read  them,  and  who  find  them  a  torch  of  new  light  in 
exploring  the  decried  or  forgotten  treasures  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  will  not  overlook  the  debt  they  owe  to  the  man  who 
caught  them  in  the  air,  and  gave  them  to  the  "art  preservative" 
fourteen  years  after  their  utterance. 


8  JXTRODUCTIOX. 

Mr.  Beecher,  without  dispraising  any  other  reports  of  his  ser- 
mons, grew  unwilling  to  be  held  responsible  for  any  except  Mr. 
Ellinwood's,  and  so  wrote  at  the  time  of  the  establishment  of 
"  Plymouth  Pulpit,"  the  weekly  pamphlet  edition  of  his  sermons, 
in  1868.  This  was  after  ten  years  of  experience  with  Mr.  Ellin- 
wood's  reporting  of  his  rapid  and  often  irregular  outpourings. 

The  discourses  of  the  present  volume  are  not  sermons,— except- 
ing the  two  in  the  front  of  the  volume,  one  on  "  Inspiration  of  the 
Bible  "  and  one  on  "  How  to  read  the  Bible."  They  are  in  fact 
Bible  readings,  interspersed  with  comment  in  most  free  and  fa- 
miliar fashion.  In  the  preparation  of  them  for  the  press,  many 
careless  colloquialisms  and  repetitions  have  been  elided  ;  itera- 
tions of  Mr.  Beecher's  view  of  inspiration,  and  recapitulations  of 
its  bearings  on  the  histor3% — necessary  in  addressing  congregations 
containing  many  different  people  from  week  to  week,  but  surplus- 
age in  a  connected  printing  of  the  whole  series, — have  been 
omitted  ;  here  and  there,  incomplete  statements  of  his  views, 
thrown  out  hastily  and  liable  to  misconstructions,  have  been  re- 
inforced from  other  and  more  careful  statements  made  by  the 
author  elsewhere  ;  and  some  of  his  interpretations,  which  to  the 
old-style  reader  might  seem  almost  irreverent,  or  at  least  "  ration- 
alistic," in  their  reduction  of  a  passage  to  a  common-sense  mean- 
ing, have  been  confirmed  by  foot-note  references  to  the  text  or 
margins  of  the  Revised  Version  of  the  Old  Testament,  which 
was  not  published  until  six  or  seven  years  (A.  D.  1885)  after  the 
delivery  of  these  discourses. 

In  all  this,  however,  scrupulous  care  has  been  taken  not  to  mar 
or  interfere  with  the  spirit  or  essential  form  of  the  author's  utter- 
ances, but  to  keep  well  within  the  line  of  revision  pursued  through 
many  years  under  Mr.  Beecher's  own  eye,  and  subject  to  his 
direction,  in  others  of  his  lectures,  sermons,  and  books. 

The  attentive  reader  of  these  Bible  Studies  will  lose  no  living 
belief  in  the  ancient  Scriptures  as  containing  the  Word  of  God 
to  men,  while  he  will  gain  new  and  larger  views  of  their  worth  for 
Christian  life  to-day — and  that,  not  in  spite  of  the  new  philosophy 
of  growth,  but  in  full  harmony  with  its  irresistible  advance. 

JOHN  R.  HOWARD. 

Ntiu  Yorky  December^  1892. 


CONTENTS. 


Preface, 

Introduction, 

I.  The  Inspiration  of  the  Bible 

II.  How  TO  Read  the  Bible, 

III.  The  Book  of  Beginnings, 

IV.  Abraham, 
V.  Isaac, 

VI.  Jacob, 

VII.  Jacob  and  Joseph, 

VIII.  Joseph,     . 

IX.  Moses, 

X.  Emancipation, 

XI.  The  Wilderness  and  Sinai, 

XII.  The  Sabbath, 

XIII.  Mosaic  Institutes  :   Humanity, 

XIV.  Mosaic  Institutes:  The  Household, 
XV.  Mosaic  Institutes  :   Social  Observances, 

XVI.  The  Feast  of  Tabernacles, 

XVII.  In  the  Land  of  Moab, 

XVIII.  Campaigns  of  Joshua, 

XIX.  A  Time  of  Degradation, 

XX.  Gideon,  .... 

XXI.  Jephthah,       .... 

XXII.  Samson,  .... 

XXIII.  Naomi  and  Ruth, 


PAGE 

3 

5 

II 

31 
47 
65 

83 

103 

125 

145 
163 

185 

205 

229 

248 

267 

281 

297 

315 
332 
351 
367 

383 
400 

420 


IX 


I. 
THE  INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 


"  But  now  we  are  delivered  from  the  Law,  that  being  dead  wherein  we 
were  held;  that  we  should  serve  in  newness  of  spirit,  and  not  in  the  old- 
ness  of  the  letter." — Rom.  vii.  6. 


For  the  general  purpose  of  bringing  home  especially  the 
more  ancient  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  to  your  considera- 
tion and  your  confidence,  unembarrassed  by  the  theories 
which  have  been  given  and  which  turn  the  Bible  very 
largely  into  a  book  of  disputes,  I  purpose,  in  this  series  of 
Sunday  evening  lectures,  first,  to  discuss  somewhat  the 
meaning  of  "inspiration,"  as  applied  to  this  source  of  our 
faith,  and  then  to  go  over  with  you  the  chief  historical 
books  of  the  Old  Testament,  trying  to  find  what  there  is 
in  them  for  us  of  the  modern  day. 

Good  and  scholarly  men  have  taken  the  declaration  that 
"all  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,"  and  given 
to  it  what  I  think  is  an  erroneous  construction.  I  hold 
inspiration  to  be  a  fundamental  fact;  but  they  have  pro- 
ceeded to  form  a  theory  of  inspiration,  not  out  of  the 
Word  of  God,  but  out  of  their  own  idea  of  the  action  of 
God  upon  the  human  soul.  Then  they  have  brought  that 
theory  forward  as  a  criterion  by  which  to  interpret  the 
Bible;  and  when  facts  have  confronted  it  and  seemed  to 
contradict  it,  they  have  been  tempted  to  go  into  a  wrest- 
ling with  and  a  wrenching  of  those  facts,  and  to  adopt  a 
system  which  is  inconsistent  with  all  fairness,  all  straight- 
forwardness, and  all  honesty.  To  a  very  large  extent  in 
our  own  time  men  have  been  deterred  from  reading  the 


Sunday  evening,  November  3,  1878. 


12  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

Word  of  God;  some  by  disgust  £it  what  seemed  to  them 
dislionest  methods  of  interpretation;  and  some  by  despair 
because  they  could  make  nothing  of  it,  as  taught. 

Look  at  the  way  in  which  this  book  is  held,  by  thou- 
sands and  thousands  in  the  community,  with  abject  indif- 
ference I  It  is  as  if  it  were  not,  so  far  as  they  are  con- 
cerned. They  have  no  curiosity,  no  appetite  that  leads 
them  to  desire  the  Word  of  God.  And  many  of  those  that 
have  a  desire  for  it  are  thrown  back  from  it  when  they  see 
what  are  the  methods  of  interpretation  which  are  brought 
to  bear  upon  it.  Some  men  spiritualize  every  part  of  it,  as 
if  it  were  all  a  book  of  symbols,  not  carrying  its  true  mean- 
ing in  the  letter  and  upon  the  face  of  it;  as  if  it  merely 
prefigured  something  outside  of  itself.  Other  men  exactly 
reverse  this,  and  give  a  literal  interpretation  to  every  part 
of  the  Bible  ;  they  unspiritualize  it  and  degrade  it  by 
carrying  men  toward  matter.  Still  others  (and  I  am  sorry 
to  say  that  among  them  are  men  who  have  been  much 
blessed  by  reason  of  their  zeal  and  appetite  for  doing  good) 
have  been  very  pernicious  in  their  influence  upon  the 
popular  acceptation  of  the  Word  of  God,  their  method 
being  to  give  a  spiritual  interpretation  to  every  material 
fact  and  a  material  interpretation  to  every  spiritual  fact, 
and  so  to  work  it  both  ways  out  of  the  range  of  ordinary 
reason,  and  put  it  beyond  the  operation  of  common  sense, 
by  which  men  are  guided  in  the  household,  in  the  affairs  of 
business,  and  in  matters  of  State. 

Now,  if  the  Word  of  God  is  ever  to  be  as  powerful  as  it 
ought  to  be  among  men  it  must  have  an  interpretation 
that  will- bring  it  home  to  the  bosoms  of  men,  so  that 
they  shall  understand  it  as  they  understand  any  great  and 
important  truths  in  human  life;  and  instead  of  imitating 
those  who  first  form  a  theory  of  inspiration  and  then 
undertake  to  make  the  Bible  conform  to  it,  we  must  go 
humbly  to  the  Word  of  God  and  see  how  it  is  made  up, 
and  ask  what  the  facts  are,  and  then  out  of  the  facts  form 
a  theory  of  inspiration — for  I  hold  that  the  Bible  was  writ- 
ten by  inspired  writers.     Everything  that  is  in  it,  looked  at 


THE  IXSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE.  '  13 

exactly  as  it  is,  without  perversion,  must  go  to  make  up 
our  theory  of  what  inspiration  admits  or  includes  in  itself. 

I  pass  by  briefly  the  definition  of  "  revelation,"  which  is 
making  known  to  men  things  not  known  before. 

As  to  the  Word  of  God  itself,  it  does  not  claim  to  be  a 
book  of  revelations.  It  contains  revelations;  but  at  first  it 
did  not  stand  on  that  ground,  nor  did  it  base  its  authority 
thereon.  Indeed,  there  are  very  few  revelations,  as  such,  in 
the  Bible.  There  are  records  innumerable  of  things  that 
men  at  large  had  not  found  out,  but  that  they  were  capa- 
ble of  finding  out.  Men  were  told  in  the  Word  of  God 
much  valuable  truth,  as  a  child  is  told  by  its  mother,  for 
the  sake  of  early  instruction,  many  useful  things  that  it  has 
not  yet  learned,  but  that  are  within  its  reach.  In  a  certain 
sense  revelations  may  consist  in  disclosures  of  things  which 
lie  within  the  sphere  of  a  man's  reason.  And  at  particular 
periods  of  the  world,  and  for  special  purposes  in  the  con- 
duct of  human  affairs,  it  has  pleased  God  to  make  extra- 
ordinary revelations,  through  extraordinary  men,  unfold- 
ing to  men  at  large  things  which  they  did  not  know,  and 
which  they  could  not  find  out  in  the  then  stage  of  the 
world,  but  which  afterwards,  when  they  came  to  investi- 
gate, were  plain  and  easy  for  them  to  comprehend. 

Men  laugh  and  say,  "  If  we  can  ascertain  such  things  by 
natural  reason,  what  is  the  use  of  revelation  ? "  Of  course,  if 
the  race  were  to  wait  long  enough,  they  could  find  out  many 
things  that  w^ere  revealed  in  the  Scriptures;  but  for  purposes 
of  education  these  things  were  wisely  made  known  in  the 
childhood  of  mankind.  Beneficently,  with  a  view  to  man's 
earlier  development,  some  things  were  anticipated  to  which 
men  would  evidently  have  come  if  they  had  been  let  alone. 

And  yet,  there  are  some  things  that  human  reason  of 
itself  could  not  compass;  as,  for  instance,  the  nature  of 
God,  the  character  of  the  other  life,  the  destiny  of  man, 
and  the  great  moral  principles  on  which  God  administers 
his  government  in  this  world.  These  are  spiritual  ele- 
ments that  men  unaided  cannot  understand.  I  do  not 
undertake  to    say  that  men  may   not,  in  later  periods  of 


14  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

large  and  multifarious  knowledge  and  by  scientific  meth- 
ods, arrive  at  right  conclusions  in  regard  to  these  elements 
also;  but  there  are  now  many  questions  which  no  man  can 
fathom  except  by  the  light  which  is  thrown  upon  them  by 
revelation.  Because  there  are  things  revealed  that  are 
within  the  reach  of  men's  investigations,  it  does  not  follow 
that  there  are  not  other  things  revealed  which  are  beyond 
the  pale  of  human  research. 

But  revelation  is  the  smallest  part  of  the  Word  of  God. 
There  is  far  less  of  it  than  of  narrative  and  of  history. 
Divine  inspiration  educed-  the  material,  and  men  "spake 
as  they  were  moved  by  the  Spirit " — that  is,  under  the 
inspiration  of  holy  feelings  they  were  competent  to  record 
with  substantial  accuracy  the  experiences  that  sprang  from 
the  influence  of  the  divine  mind  upon  the  human  mind. 
For  inspiration  is  something  much  broader  than  revela- 
tion. It  may  be  very  generally  defined  as  being  a  divine 
influence  that  quickens  the  faculties  of  men.  Whether  it 
acts  directly  upon  individual  human  minds  (I  believe  it 
does,  at  times);  whether  it  acts  indirectly  upon  the  human 
mind  through  institutions  (and  I  believe  it  does  that  also); 
or  whether  it  inspires  mankind  at  large  with  a  knowledge 
of  the  truth  or  with  the  light  of  truth, — it  is  an  action  of 
the  divine  mind  upon  the  human  mind,  either  in  the  mass 
or  as  individuals,  so  as  to  secure —  What?  Such  a  presen- 
tation of  the  truth  as  shall  work  toward  morality  and  spirit- 
ualized manhood. 

The  whole  drift  of  the  Bible  is  to  be  a  practical  book — a 
book  to  teach  men  the  highest  way  of  life;  to  teach  them 
how  to  live  so  as  not  to  be  degraded  by  their  senses;  so 
that  they  shall  be  able  to  meet  the  inequalities  of  life;  so 
that  it  shall  be  possible  for  them  to  use  the  world  without 
abusing  it;  to  teach  them  how  to  live  in  this  world  so  that 
they  shall  come  to  a  higher  and  better  one.  If  there  ever 
was  a  book  the  aim  of  whose  teaching  was  that  the  man 
of  God  might  be  thoroughly  furnished  unto  every  good 
work,  that  book  is  the  Bible — as  we  commonly  call  this 
collection  of  ancient  sacred  Scriptures. 


THE  INSPIRA  TION  OF  THE  BIBLE.  1 5 

Now,  let  us  see  what  Inspiration,  as  it  is  derived  from 
an  examination  of  the  Book  itself,  must  include.  There  is 
an  impression  that  in  the  larger  understanding  of  inspira- 
tion there  is  a  limitation  of  the  interpretation  of  God's 
Word;  on  the  contrary,  I  believe  that  the  larger  libertv 
gives  the  larger  power. 

First :  Any  adequate  theory  of  inspiration  must  admit 
of  the  incorporation  of  all  existing  records  into  the  Word, 
Genesis,  in  its  earlier  chapters,  unquestionably  was  made 
effulgent  with  the  combination  of  several  then-existing 
records  of  things.  They  are  very  plainly  marked  in  the 
original.  The  whole  style  and  the  whole  use  of  language 
demarks  them  one  from  another.  So,  at  the  very  first  step 
into  the  Bible  we  find  that  inspiration,  as  it  were,  gathers 
up  documents,  statements  of  fact,  that  existed  before,  and 
makes  them  part  and  parcel  of  the  inspired  record;  and 
that  with  which  the  Word  of  God  begins  it  goes  on  with. 
Whole  books  were  selections  from  existing  literature. 
There  is  no  question  but  that  the  book  of  Esther  was  taken 
bodily  out  of  the  records  of  an  Oriental  monarch.  With- 
out doubt  the  ten  genealogies  came  from  the  public  rec- 
ords, made  just  as  any  other  genealogical  records  are — 
just  as  the  public  documents  in  Brooklyn  are  made,  that 
are  in  the  hands  of  the  county  clerk,  and  of  which  one 
might  make  a  transcript.  And  so  many  existing  docu- 
ments were  brouglit  together  in  the  making  up  of  the 
Bible  that,  if  it  was  produced  under  inspiration,  we  must 
see  that  inspiration  admitted — nay,  directed — the  taking 
into  the  Word  of  God  much  of  the  literature  that  had 
sprung  up  in  the  ordinary  course  of  human  thought  and 
procedure. 

Then,  secondly:  Inspiration,  to  be  applicable  to  the  Bible 
as  we  have  it,  must  admit  the  incorporation  of  statements, 
in  regard  to  incidental  facts,  which  originated  in  the 
usual  faulty,  errant  operation  of  the  human  mind.  If  any 
theory  of  inspiration  admitted  such  inaccuracy  as  viti- 
ated moral  principles,  and  misled  men  as  to  conduct,  as  to 
disposition,  and  as  to  great  spiritual  tendencies,  it  would 


1 6  BIHl.I:    STCDIKS. 

be  fatal  to  every  scheme  for  the  elevation  of  men  to  which 
it  might  be  applied;  but  inspiration  is  consistent  with  such 
a  presentation  of  solid  truths  as  is  adapted  to  the  welfare 
of  the  human  race,  while  yet  this  presentation  is  made 
through  vehicles  that  carry  with  them  the  limitations  and 
imperfections  of  human  language  and  human  thought,  not 
only,  but  also  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  period,  the 
nation,  and  the  man  inspired  to  declare  it.  We  do  not 
destroy  the  moral  purpose  of  a  document  when  we  show 
that  it  is  misspelled,  or  that  there  are  literary  or  statistical 
mistakes  in  it,  provided  the  mistakes  are  quite  irrelevant 
to  the  main  end.  It  is  destructive  of  any  theory  of  the 
inspiration  of  the  Bible  to  claim  that  every  word  and  letter 
which  it  contains  is  infallibly  correct.  That  claim,  carried 
out  logically  or  consistent}}',  would  do  one  of  two  things: 
it  would  destroy  the  Bible  itself,  in  the  faith  of  just- 
minded  men  and  honest-minded  interpreters;  or  it  would 
put  men  cm  a  system  of  twisting  and  twirling  metaphorical 
statements.  It  would  lead  to  discriminations  which  would 
make  men  special  theorists,  and  result  in  erroneous  judg- 
ments on  their  part.     Indeed,  it  has  resulted  in  just  that. 

To  say  that  there  were  "  ten  thousand  "  when  there  were 
only  five  thousand  does  not  invalidate  the  practical  intent 
of  conveying  the  fact  that  there  w^ere  a  great  inajiw  The 
use  of  specific  numbers  to  indicate  a  strong  statement  of 
a  large  number  is  thoroughly  Oriental,  and  natural  in  an 
Oriental  book.  To  say  that  there  was  a  flood  of  forty 
days  if  it  lasted  only  twenty  days  does  not  disprove  the 
fact  that  there  was  a  great  cataclysm  or  phenomenon  of 
nature,  lasting  an  unusually  long  time.  This  does  vitiate 
a  theory  of  inspiration  which  makes  every  figure  in  the 
Bible  accurate,  which  spells  every  word  right,  and  which 
places  every  elemxent  in  its  correct  place:  but  the  record 
itself  disputes  any  such  theory  of  inspiration  as  that;  for 
that  would  hold  it  morally  responsible  for  inaccuracies, 
misstatements  which  are  contained  in  the  record,  and 
would  make  the  whole  thing  false  in  respect  to  the  great 
moral  ends  for  which  any  communication  is  made. 


THE  INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE.  17 

If  it  be  said  that  one  man,  in  writing-  a  portion  of  the 
Scriptures,  said  one  thing,  while  the  opposite  was  said  by 
another,  that  may  be  an  utterly  unimportant  error.  It  is 
stated  in  one  of  the  Gospels  that  Christ  went  to  Nazareth 
before  certain  events  happened,  and  by  another  it  is 
declared  that  he  went  after  the  happening  of  those  events; 
but  what  difference  does  it  make  whether  he  w^ent  before 
or  after?  He  ivznt.  If  the  theory  of  inspiration  insists 
that  exactitude  as  to  facts  is  indispensable  to  its  divine 
origin,  then  it  makes  a  great  deal  of  difference;  but  if  the 
theory  of  inspiration  takes  no  note  of  incidental  errors  pro- 
vided they  do  not  vitiate  the  great  purpose  which  divine 
truth  was  intended  to  bring  forth,  then  it  does  not  amount 
to  any  difference.  At  any  rate,  no  man  can  critically  exam- 
ine the  text  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New  and  not 
find  these  internal  and  external  vehicular  inaccuracies; 
and  I  take  the  ground  that  the  true  theory  of  inspiration 
admits  of  those  incidental  errors  of  time,  place,  etc.,  which 
do  not  alter  the  general  drift  of  the  text,  nor  the  impres- 
sion it  was  designed  to  make  on  men,  the  object  being  to 
''thoroughly  furnish  them  for  every  good  work."  A  truth 
may  be  valid,  and  yet  be  clothed  with  imperfect  views  and 
erroneous  statements,  and  even  urged  upon  low  grounds. 

"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  that  thy  days  may  be  long  upon  the 
land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee." 

What  is  the  drift  of  this  passage?     Is  it  to  teach  men 
how  to  live  a  great  while?     No.     People  want   to  live  a 
great  while,  anyhow.     That  does  not  indicate  inspiration. 
That  is  inherent.     The  drift  of  the  passage  is  Honor  thy 
father  and  thy  mother;  and  the  motive  applied  was,  com- 
paratively speaking,  a  low  one;  but  it  was  probably  the 
only  motive  by  which,  in  the  early  ages  of  the  human  race, 
children  could  be  touched  in  a  way  to  make  them  treat 
their  parents  with  filial  reverence.      A  great  thing  lon- 
gevity was  thought  to  be  ;  and  there  was  a  distinction 
made  between  the  length  of  days  of  those  who  honored 
their  father  and  mother  and  those  who  disregarded  them. 
It  was  not  the  highest  motive  ;  nor,  for  us,  could  it  be  the 
2 


1 8  BIBLE   STUDIES. 

true  one:  but,  for  the  slaves  just  escaped  out  of  Egypt,  it 
was  wise. 

So  in  every  age  human  nature  must  be  dealt  with  in  the 
best  way  in  which  it  can  be  reached;  and  if  there  be  one 
thing  that  is  shown  all  the  way  through  the  divinely 
inspired  record  it  is  the  adaptation  of  methods,  institutions, 
and  revelations  of  truth  to  the  weaknesses  and  necessities 
of  men  in  each  particular  age.  The  garment  was  made  to 
fit  the  figure.  The  manner  of  teaching  was  in  accordance 
with  the  need  of  the  time  and  nation  in  which  it  took 
place.     Not  perfection,  but  right  direction,  was  the  aim. 

Thirdly:  Inspiration  as  properly  viewed  may  include  a 
whole  statement  of  material  truths,  good  and  bad,  which 
makeup  a  complete  history,  without  either  criticism,  judg- 
ment, determination,  or  characterization.  The  sins,  the  evils, 
the  mistakes  of  good  men  are  not  approved  because  they 
are  stated  without  any  application  to  them  of  moral  dis- 
criminations and  condemnations. 

In  the  early  periods  of  history,  in  the  record,  for  instance, 
of  the  patriarchal  age,  we  are  confronted  with  conduct 
which  would  drive  a  man  from  society  if  it  were  committed 
to-day.  We  permit  in  a  child  things  which,  if  he  were 
to  continue  them  until  he  became  grown,  would  deprive 
him  of  good  standing  and  throw  him  out  of  society.  And 
in  the  infancy  of  the  race  things  were  permitted  which, 
judged  by  our  modern  standards  of  honor  and  right,  would 
condemn  a  man  as  utterly  base.  They  were  bad  then,  and 
they  would  have  been  worse  in  every  age  since,  by  reason 
of  the  growing  light  that  has  been  brought  to  bear  upon 
truth  and  duty  ;  and  yet  they  are  narrated  in  the  Word  of 
God  without  a  single  protest.  Conduct  was  allowed  in 
the  past  which  was  far  less  criminal  than  it  would  be  in 
our  age  :  but  it  was  criminal  then  ;  and  nevertheless,  there 
it  stands,  apparently  unrebuked. 

Look  at  Jacob,  much  of  whose  conduct  would  be  con- 
demned from  beginning  to  end,  according  to  any  modern 
canon  of  moral  criticism.  He  outwitted,  with  the  cort- 
nivance  of  a  cunning  mother,  his  elder  brother.     He  was 


THE  INSPIRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE.  19 

politic  all  the  way  through.  While  he  was  a  politician,  he 
always  thought  of  himself,  and  looked  out  for  "Number 
One."  He  was  selfish  and  cruel.  And  yet,  he  is  not  criti- 
cised ;  there  is  no  stamp  of  dishonor  put  upon  him.  He 
acted  in  these  things  by  the  light  and  the  low  morality  of 
the  age  in  which  he  lived,  making  mistakes  and  committing 
offenses  that  would  be  outrageous  if  they  were  committed 
in  our  day  ;  and  yet  he  stands  up  as  one  of  the  three  great 
patriarchs— Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob. 

Divine  inspiration,  in  the  record,  then,  admits  the  telling 
of  the  imperfections  of  men,  of  their  sins,  of  their  crimes^ 
without  stopping  to  lay  upon  them  the  law  of  criticism  or 
of  condemnation.  The  duty  of  placing  censure  upon  these 
things  is  left  to  men  who  apply  the  moral  and  spiritual 
principles  given  in  the  inspired  record.  It  is  not  to  be 
held  that  a  wrong  thing  is  approved  because  it  is  not  in 
words  disapproved.  It  is  simply  to  be  held  that  the  au- 
thors of  the  Scriptures  stated  things  as  they  were,— good, 
bad,  and  indifferent. 

Fourthly :     A  true  view  of  inspiration  admits  of  partial 
statements  of  truth— such  as  may  come  within  the  limit  of 
misunderstanding,  at  any  rate.     To  state  to  an  audience 
a  truth  larger  than  the  receptivity  of  that  audience  is,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  not  to  state  it  to  them.     To  explain 
to  children  in  the  nursery  the  operation  of    the  Federal 
Courts  as  compared  with  the  operation  of  the  State  Courts, 
would  be  to  explain  to  them  nothing  at  al],because  thev  have 
not  the  elemental  knowledge  without  which  they  cannot 
perceive  the  condition  of  things,  nor  cluster  together  facts 
and  make  comparisons.     You  tell  them  nothing  if  you  tell 
them  that  which  is  larger  than  they  can  take  in.     And  if 
the  inspired    record  was  to  be  used  to  any  advantage  it 
must  be  adapted  to  the  level  and  capacity  of  that  age  of 
the  human  mind  to  which  it  was  originally  addressed     It 
is  not    possible    for    God,  except    by  working   a    miracle 
except  by  changing  natural   law,  to  make  known   to  men 
the  great  universal  truths   of  their  being  which  ally  them 
to  the  unseen  world.     Only  so  much  of  these  truths  can  be 


20  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

put  into  any  record  as  shall  be  comprehensible,  either  by 
the  time  in  which  the  record  is  given  or  by  the  time 
which  shall  come  after. 

Now,  the  inspired  record  states  truths  in  such  partial 
forms  that  they  will  be  comprehensible  to  men  according 
to  the  measure  of  their  understanding.  Take,  for  instance, 
the  doctrine  of  immortality.  There  is  not  a  word  in  all 
the  institutes  of  Moses — in  the  five  books  called  "  The 
Pentateuch  " — which  indicates  that  there  is  such  a  thing: 
and  yet  these  are  the  foundation-books  of  the  Jewish 
economv.  In  our  time,  through  the  teachings  of  Jesus, 
that  transcendent  fact  is  disclosed;  but  in  the  beginning, 
for  reasons  unquestionably  wise,  though  not  made  known, 
the  inspired  records  did  not  develop  that  side  of  truth. 
It  made  known  much  of  God,  much  of  the  divine  govern- 
ment, much  of  duty:  but  of  that  revelation  which  lies  at 
the  verv  foundation  of  the  New  Testament  it  made  no 
mention.  And  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it,  when 
you  make  a  theory  of  inspiration,  except  to  say  that 
inspiration  admits  of  partial,  alphabetic,  statements,  capa- 
ble of  coming  to  more  complex  and  fuller  forms  in  later 
days  ?    . 

Men  are  shocked  when  it  is  said  that  an  inspired  record 
may  teach  by  stating  things  that  are  not.  Well,  it  can. 
and  it  does.  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  the  parables 
of  Christ?  There  is  not  one  of  them  that  is  not  a  little 
fiction.  They  were  all  artificial:  they  were  invented  : 
but  they  were  apt,  and  among  the  best  of  means,  especially 
amons:  the  Orientals,  who  teach  so  much  bv  stories,  of 
instructing  men  in  higher  truths.  Here  were  falsities,  so 
far  as  facts  were  concerned,  employed  for  the  purpose  of 
making  verities  known. 

The  way  to  bring  a  child  to  a  true  knowledge  is  to  tell 
him  things  that  are  not  true.  If  you  were  to  banish  all 
the  fair}-  stories,  all  the  fables,  all  the  made-up  tales  in 
Sunday-school  libraries  :  if  you  should  take  away  all  of 
what  some  people  call  lies — accounts  of  things  that  never 
happened,    what  would  become  of  childhood  ?      Now,  in 


THE  INSPIRATIO.Y  OF  THE  BIBLE.  21 

all  times  of  the  development  of  the  human  race  fiction  has 
gone  before  fact,  and  has  been  used  as  a  means  of  bringing 
men  to  fact.  Although  when  men  have  grown  to  matur- 
ity it  is  not  so  necessary  that  there  should  be  fiction  to  help 
them  to  fact,  yet,  in  the  adolescence  of  mankind,  in  their 
infantile  condition,  fiction  was  essential  as  an  instrument 
by  which  to  lift  them  from  a  lower  to  a  higher  plane.  Im- 
aginative elements,  instead  of  tangible  actualities,  have 
been  employed  with  continual  benefit;  and  we  find  them 
employed  nowhere  more  than  in  the  Word  of  God,  both  the 
Old  Testament  and  the  New.  No  man  need  be  afraid  to 
look  upon  this  thing,  and  say,  "It  is  so." 

The  honored,  and  most  deservedly  honored,  Dean 
Stanley,  who  is  present  in  our  great  city  adjoining,  said  a 
most  wise  thing  in  regard  to  this  very  subject,  when 
he  declared  that  it  was  not  so  important  to  have  a  theory 
of  inspiration  as  it  was  to  ascertain  what  are  the  actual 
facts  about  the  Bible;  "for,"  said  he,  "  the  theory  that 
ultimately  is  to  prevail  must  be  that  theory  which  includes 
in  itself  all  the  facts."  Therefore,  as  these  things  are  facts, 
we  must  take  the  ground  that  the  inspired  record  admits 
of  statements  that  are  fictitious  for  the  sake  of  helping  the 
imagination  and  the  reason  to  rise  from  a  lower  plane  to  a 
higher  one.  Any  theory  which  includes  all  the  facts  must 
make  room  for  that  fact. 

Fifthly  :  The  fact  of  a  document  having  been  given 
under  inspiration  in  no  way  limits  or  mars  the  freedom  of 
the  human  mind  in  interpreting  the  truths  taught.  In 
other  words,  we  are  to  interpret  inspired  language  by  pre- 
cisely the  same  laws  of  interpretation  which  we  apply  to 
any  other  documents.  Language  which  is  used  by  inspi- 
ration is  just  the  same  as  that  which  is  used  without  it: 
and  the  laws  of  interpretation  applied  to  inspired  docu- 
ments are  precisely  the  same  as  those  applied  to  documents 
of  any  other  kind.  Those  laws  are  well  ascertained  and 
unvarying,  and  in  the  main  are  accepted  by  every  school  of 
thought  and  denomination  of  religion:  and  we  are  not  to 
go  to  the  Word  of  God,  to  the  inspired  record,  with  the 


22  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

idea  that  we  must  handle  holy  things  in  a  different  way 
from  that  in  which  we  handle  other  things.  There  is  no 
sanctity  in  the  inspired  record  such  that  the  attitude  of  a 
man's  mind  should  be  different  in  dealing  with  it  from 
what  it  is  in  dealing  with  any  other  record  or  truth.  We 
are  to  be  guided  by  the  same  rules  of  judgment  when  we 
go  to  the  Word  of  God  as  when  we  go  to  any  other  word. 
And  this,  not  to  destroy  it,  but  to  save  it — to  take  it  out  of 
the  realm  of  superstition  and  out  of  the  twilight  of  igno- 
rance, and  bring  it  into,  the  daylight  of  reason  and  com- 
mon sense.  What  we  want  is  to  rescue  the  Bible  from  the 
mists  and  fogs  that  have  surrounded  it,  and  lay  it  open 
before  the  judgment  of  mankind,  and  say,  "  Fearlessly 
inspect  it;  read  it;  think  about  it!  "  It  will  stand  that, 
and  will  be  all  the  stronger  for  it.  I  am  tired  of  a  mystic 
interpretation  of  the  Bible  which  takes  it  away  from  mat- 
ter-of-fact people  by  wrenching  it  out  of  its  true  relations, 
and  substitutes  clouds  that  have  no  rain  in  them  for  sub- 
stantial realities.  I  am  in  favor  of  seeing  the  Word  of 
God  handled  in  the  way  that  any  other  documents  would 
naturally  be  handled,  by  well  ascertained  laws  of  reason 
applied  to  interpretation. 

It  is  not  meant,  then,  that,  in  teaching  the  inspired 
Word,  we  should  say  to  man's  reason,  "  Stand  aside,  and 
hear  what  God  says."  The  apostle  commanded  men  to 
search  the  Scriptures,  and  see  if  things  .were  not  as  he 
declared  them  to  be.  The  whole  Word  itself  is  a  challenge 
to  the  reason.  Yea,  God  himself  appears,  in  the  light  of  a 
drama  or  representation,  saying,  "  Let  us  reason  together." 
Throughout  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New,  men  are 
invited  to  reason,  reason^  reason! 

Sixthly  :  On  all  subjects  of  mental  experience  or  inves- 
tigation we  must  accept  an  interpretation  according  to  the 
best  light,  analogical,  which  we  have  in  regard  to  the  thing 
stated;  and  when  we  come  to  read  the  Word  of  God  care- 
fully the  things  that  are  beyond  the  reach  of  human  inves-, 
tigation  are  very  few.  Those  that  are  so  are  stated  in 
such  a  manner  that  we  cannot  apply  to  them  analogical 


THE  INSPIRA  TION  OF  THE  BIBLE.  23 

experimental  laws.     They  are  given  so  vaguely,  with  so 
few  facts,  that  men  cannot  fathom  them. 

As  to  immortality,  for  instance,  Paul  presents  an  exam- 
ple of  the  growth  of  the  seed.  The  seed  dies  in  order  that 
a  better  thing  may  come  out  of  it.  The  Scripture  tells  us 
that  the  state  beyond  is  one  of  transcendent  glory;  but 
what  that  glory  is,  John  says,  does  not  appear. 

So,  when  we  speak  of  the  revelation  of  truths  that  lie 
beyond  the  reach  of  human  investigation,  beyond  ordinary 
experience,  beyond  scientific  reasoning,  we  can  give  only  a 
very  faint  interpretation  of  them,  and  we  take  them 
unquestioningly.  I  take  the  fact  of  continued  existence 
without  questioning.  The  fact  of  the  resurrection — not  of 
the  material  body  but  of  the  spiritual  body — I  also  take 
without  questioning.  The  statement  that  personal  iden- 
tity and  recognition  shall  be  given  to  us  in  the  other  life  I 
cannot  reason  upon;  I  can  only  accept  it  as  a  simple  fact: 
but  the  purpose  of  other  forms  of  truth  that  are  there,  and 
which  lie  within  the  reach  of  human  investigation,  we  must 
ascertain  by  studying  the  facts  by  which  they  are  illus- 
trated. You  will  admit  this  in  respect  to  lower  forms  of 
truth,  though  you  are  not  accustomed  to  admit  it  with 
regard  to  higher  forms. 

When  the  Bible  speaks  of  things  that  you  cannot  learn 
anything  about  by  turning  from  passage  to  passage  of 
Scripture,  seek  information  concerning  it  elsewhere.  If  it 
speaks  of  silver  you  may  turn  to  Matthew,  or  Revelation, 
or  Isaiah,  or  any  other  of  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  and  you  will  not  gain  as  much  light  in  regard 
to  it  as  you  will  by  taking  a  piece  of  silver  ore,  or  a  bar  of 
bullion,  or  a  dollar  piece,  and  looking  at  that.  You  go  to 
silver  when  you  want  to  know  what  the  Bible  means  in 
speaking  of  "silver."  When  it  speaks  of  snow,  or  trees,  or 
clouds,  or  rivers,  or  lions,  or  anything  within  the  reach  of 
your  knowledge,  you  go  to  that  thing  to  find  out  what  is 
meant.  You  interpret  most  of  what  is  in  the  Bible  by 
things  that  are  outside  of  it.  When  the  Word  of  God 
mentions  material  things,  you  do  not  consider  it  any  viola- 


24  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

tion  of  that  word  to  go  outside  of  it  to  ascertain  what  it 
means. 

The  same  thing  is  true  in  respect  to  persons.  We  know 
what  father  and  mother  are,  not  because  the  Bible  teaches 
us  what  they  are,  but  because  of  our  relations  to  them  and 
our  intercourse  with  them.  It  teaches  us  what  their  duties 
are;  but  what  they  themselves  are  we  learn  outside  of  the 
Bible.  We  carry  our  outside  knowledge  as  a  light  with 
which  to  interpret  that  inside  Scripture  which  refers  to 
them.  We  do  the  same. with  regard  to  kings,  to  princes, 
to  laboring  men,  to  seamen,  to  men  in  all  relations  and 
situations. 

AVe  take  the  things  of  which  the  Bible  speaks,  and  carry 
the  knowledge  we  gain  of  them  back  and  employ  that  as 
a  means  of  interpreting  the  Bible.  This  is  normal  and 
legitimate, — nay,  necessary. 

The  same  is  true  of  mental  operations.  When  the  attri- 
butes of  the  mind  are  spoken  of  in  the  Bible  we  ascertain 
what  those  attributes  are,  not  by  going  to  the  Bible  itself, 
but  by  observing  their  manifestations  in  human  life. 
What  justice,  love,  and  goodness  are,  of  which  so  much  is 
said  in  the  inspired  record,  we  learn  outside  of  that  record 
— not  inside  of  it.  This  Book  is  paper  and  ink;  it  is  not 
love.  It  does  not  love  when  it  says  "Love."  No  love 
flames  from  the  text  when  love  is  spoken  of.  But  go 
home,  after  a  long  absence,  to  your  mother,  and  see  what 
love  is.  Meet  your  sweetheart  after  a  prolonged  separa- 
tion, and  see  what  love  is.  Go  to  life  for  life-facts.  Take 
the  things  that  are  actual  for  the  interpretation  of  real 
truths.  -  Life  is  a  better  interpreter  of  the  Bible  than  old 
commentaries  are,  although  old  commentaries  are  not 
unuseful. 

Seventhly :  Inspired  writings  may  contain  statements 
which  in  an  after-age  would  require  no  inspiration.  That 
is  also  true  of  revelation.  It  may  be  needful  that  things 
be  revealed  to  men  by  the  direct  telling  of  God  in  one  age 
which  at  a  later  period  would  need  no  such  direct  telling. 
One  says,  "You  pretend  that  these  are  revelations;  when 


THE  nySP/RATlOA'  OF  THE  BIBLE.  25 

there  is  not  a  schoolboy  in  our  day  that  could  not  find  them 
out,  without  having  them  revealed  to  him."  Very  likely; 
but  in  an  eaily  and  undeveloped  age  a  thing  may  be  re- 
quired to  be  made  knov/n  through  special  methods  which 
at  a  later  period  would  not  be  required  to  be  thus  made 
known.  It  does  not  follow,  that,  because  at  a  later  period 
men  could  help  themselves,  they  could  have  done  it  at  the 
beo-innino-.  We  put  a  bottle  to  the  mouths  of  babes;  but  it 
does  not  follow-,  because  when  the  child  is  forty  years  old 
he  does  not  suck  the  bottle,  that  he  did  not  need  to  suck  it 
when  he  was  a  babe.  Things  are  adapted  to  the  wants  of 
infantile  helplessness  which  would  be  absurd  at  a  time  of 
later  disclosure. 

Men  attempt  to  show  that  things  in  the  Bible  which  are 
claimed  to  have  been  miracles  were  not  miraculous  be- 
cause they  lie  within  the  sphere  of  natural  laws;  but  in  the 
early  ages  natural  laws  not  understood  were  miracles;  for 
miracles  in  any  age  are  facts  that  transcend  the  knowledge 
and  skill  of  the  men  wdio  live  in  that  age. 

Childhood  is  taught  by  certain  methods.  Ripe  age 
supersedes  those  methods,  but  it  does  not  despise  nor 
reject  them.  I  have  left  off  the  clothes  which  I  wore  when 
I  was  three  years  old;  but  I  do  not  despise  them.  I  put 
them  on  three-year-old  children,  or  grandchildren.  So  it 
is  in  respect  to  the  Word  of  God.  It  w^as  given  for  differ- 
ent periods;  and  it  stands  to  reason  that  this  fact  can  be 
no  objection  to  the  divine  record.  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
eminently  conducive  to  our  faith  in  the  efficiency  of 
inspired  things. 

Hence,  we  find  the  New  Testament  boldly  saying  what 
some  modern  preachers  would  not  dare  to  say.  Hear 
Paul  declare: 

"  Now  we  are  delivered  from  the  Law,  that  being  dead  wherein  we  were 
held." 

If  I  were  to  come  here  and  say,  "  The  Old  Testament  law 
is  dead  and  gone;  I  don't  care  for  that  any  more,",  how 
would  a  paragraph  flame  out  in  the  morning  newspapers, 
and  be  heralded  all  over  the  country,  "  Beecher  don't  care 


26  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

for  the  Old  Testament;  he  says  it  is  dead!"  Well,  Paul 
says  it;  and  people,  without  opening  their  eyes  in  astonish- 
ment, swallow  it,  as  if  it  were  all  right  enough.  But  Paul 
taught  that,  in  the  adaptation  of  means  to  ends,  after  a 
fact  had  served  its  purpose  it  ceased  to  be  necessary.  He 
took  the  ground  that  things  which  were  essential  in  the 
childhood  of  the  race  could  be  dispensed  with  when  it 
came  to  manhood.  But  only  if  replaced  by  something 
better  ;  for,  after  declaring  that  the  Law  was  dead,  and 
that  men  were  not  held  by  it  any  more,  he  went  on  to  say: 

"  That  we  should  serve  in  newness  of  spirit,  '^ad  not  in  the  oldness  of  tlie 
letter." 

He  denied  the  authority  of  Mosaism  as  applied  to  men 
who  live  by  the  spirit  of  Christ,  although  indispensable  to 
earlier  periods.  And  he  was  right.  An  egg-shell  is  very 
necessary  before  the  chicken  is  hatched;  but  w^ould  it  not 
be  very  absurd  to  insist  that  the  chicken  should  always 
wear  the  shell?  The  earlier  statements,  the  earlier  institu- 
tions, and  the  earlier  methods  of  the  Bible,  when  they  had 
accomplished  their  appropriate  work,  w-ere  superseded  by 
other  provisions,  and  that  without  implying  any  contempt 
of  these  old  instrumentalities.  They  were  adapted  to  the 
object  which  they  were  meant  to  serve — namely,  the  de- 
velopment of  human  life  as  it  originally  existed. 

We  give  medicine  to  men  because  they  are  sick;  and  if 
this  medicine  is  rightly  adapted  it  gives  health,  and  thus 
renders  itself  unnecessary,  so  that  it  may  thereafter  prop- 
erly be  ignored.  The  Bible  is  full  of  medicine,  as  it  were, 
that  has  served  its  purpose — the  record  of  statements, 
institutions,  and  customs  that  related  to  the  primitive  con- 
ditions of  mankind;  and  any  correct  theory  of  inspiration 
must  make  room  for  this  fact. 

And,  finally:  The  unity  of  the  Bible  is  not  like  the  unity 
of  a  modern  work.  The  Bible  is  simply  a  library-shelf  filled 
wnth  books.  If  the  writings  constituting  the  Bible,  by 
different  authors,  were  bound  up  separately,  as  modern 
books  are,  they  would  make  forty  or  fifty  volumes,  written 
in  different  languages,  under  different  institutions,  and  for 


THE  INSPIRA  TION  OF  THE  BIBLE.  ^7 

different  purposes,  by  men  that  had  no  sort  of  connection 
with  each  other;  and  yet,  when  brought  together,  though 
they  may  not  be  arranged  with  accuracy  so  far  as  order  of 
time  is  concerned,  as  a  series  they  have  a  certain  spiritual 
unity,  and  that  is  all  the  unity  there  is  about  them.  Exter- 
nal unity  in  the  books  of  the  Bible  is  utterly  wanting;  but 
interiorly  they  are  one.  That  is,  they  all  bear  on  the  gen- 
eral questions  of  man's  sinfulness,  his  duty,  his  righteous- 
ness, his  relations  to  God  and  eternity;  they  are  uniform 
in  that  reeard;  while  in  their  outward  characteristics  they 
are  very  different  one  from  another. 

I  think  one  of  the  most  interesting  things  in  England  is 
the  Winchester  Cathedral.  It  represents  every  order  of 
Gothic  architecture,  from  the  old  Saxon  down  to  the  latest 
developments  in  this  direction,  running  through  four  or 
five  distinct  periods.  In  one  part  of  the  building  you  see 
represented  the  most  ancient,  in  another  more  modern,  in 
another  still  more  modern,  and  in  another,  the  most  mod- 
ern Gothic  architecture.  The  whole  constitutes  a  mag- 
nificent pile.  It  represents  several  different  schools,  with 
hundreds  of  years  between  them;  but  the  peculiarities  of 
these  different  schools  are  brought  together  so  that,  al- 
though the  individual  elements  in  them  are  unlike,  they 
compose  a  unit  which  is  admirable,  and  serves  the  purposes 
of  the  church,  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  beautiful  to  the 

eye. 

In  old  Warwick  Castle,  before  it  was  destroyed  by  fire 
outwardly,  you  saw  the  most  irregular  and  strange  group- 
ing. One  century  built  one  side,  with  its  tower,  of  a 
particular  kind  of  wall.  Another  century  built  another 
side,  with  its  palatial  residence  and  magnificent  halls.  By 
accretion,  with  the  growth  of  architecture,  it  came  into  its 
more  recent  condition.  Now,  outwardly,  it  represented 
very  different  epochs  and  very  different  architectural  ideas, 
strangely  grouped  together;  but  inwardly  it  was  a  place 
fit  for  a  noble  to  live  in.  All  its  parts  were  brought  into 
domestic  uses,  and  it  answered  the  purposes  of  a  refined 
and  cultured  household. 


28  diblp:  studies. 

The  Word  of  God  is  filled  with  books  which,  though 
written  in  different  ages,  have  an  interior  unity.  They  are 
united  in  telling  man  how  he  shall  be  in  harmony  with 
God ;  how  he  shall  live  above  his  animal  life,  so  as  to  be 
immortal;  how  he  shall  learn  the  secret  of  happiness  in 
years  to  come;  how  he  shall  be  forgiven  for  sin  and  avoid 
it.  There  is  but  one  voice  in  these  books  in  regard  to  the 
history  of  men;  they  are  in  perfect  accord  in  this  respect; 
whereas,  in  respect  to  the  instrument,  the  literary  imple- 
ment, by  which  the  great  truths  of  the  gospel  are  conveyed 
to  men,  the  exterior  elements  of  the  Bible  are  exceedingly 
diverse. 

From  this  general  statement  it  will  appear  that  the 
setting  aside  of  any  book  that  is  bound  up  in  the  Bible 
will  not  invalidate  the  others.  We  know  very  Avell  that 
Luther  did  not  believe  the  Epistle  of  James  was  a  canon- 
ical book,  and  that  he  set  it  aside.  We  know  very  well 
that  there  are  modern  critics  who  suppose  parts  of 
"  Isaiah  "  were  not  written  by  the  author  of  that  book, 
and  should  not  be  ascribed  to  him.  We  know  very  well 
that  some  of  the  earlier  historical  books  are  supposed  by 
critics  to  be  invalidated  because  they  seem  to  show  traces 
of  being  compilations  of  still  earlier  documents,  and  as 
they  say  could  not  have  been  written  by  Moses  or  any 
single  writer. 

As  for  myself,  I  say  that  if  even  it  should  be  proved  that 
some  of  the  books  of  the  Bible  are  not  authentic,  and 
must  be  rejected — as  I  do  not  believe  it  will,  and  that 
others  though  in  the  main  correct  contain  more  or  less 
errors  which  must  be  eliminated,  it  would  not  destroy  the 
Bible,  any  more  than  to  take  a  rotten  joist  from  an  imper- 
fect place  in  a  house  would  destroy  the  house.  In  taking 
out  from  the  Bible  v.hatever  is  false,  you  simply  take  out 
something  that  does  not  belong  there.  Therefore,  to  criti- 
cise a  single  book  does  not  alter  the  whole  canon.  TJie 
Bible  remains. 

If  men  go  to  the  Old  Testament,  then,  and  undertake  to 
give  to  all  that  is  there  an  interpretation  under  the  im- 


THE  INSPIRA  TION  OF  THE  BIBLE.  29 

pression  that  every  word  and  sentence  has  been  forged  in 
the  soul  of  God,  and  put  into  his  Word  by  his  own  direct 
influence,  instead  of  its  being  a  demonstrative  system 
adapting  the  amount  and  the  method  of  truth  employed 
to  the  nature  of  the  minds  to  be  operated  upon  through 
the  instrumentality  of  other  minds  inspired  and  aroused  to 
wisdom  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  making  use  of  natural  objects, 
society,  all  available  means,  for  teaching  and  developing 
the  human  race, — then  one  of  two  things  must  happen  : 
either  the  Bible  must  give  way  or  they  must  give  way. 

This  Book  is  elastic  ;  and  if  you  put  a  cast-iron  frame 
about  it,  if  you  cramp  it  by  theories  and  philosophies,  it 
cannot  stand — it  will  die  of  suffocation.  If  you  are  going 
to  save  the  Bible,  you  must  proceed  on  the  Bible  ground: 
take  facts  as  they  are,  and  act  according  to  those  facts. 
If  men  will  go  to  the  Word  of  God  simply  for  the  purpose 
of  knowledge,  to  profit  withal,  and  not  to  find  material  for 
controversy,  not  in  a  spirit  of  criticism,  not  even  for 
literary  enjoyment ;  if  men  will  go  to  the  Scriptures  with 
the  wish  that  they  may  be  thoroughly  furnished  for  every 
good  work  ;  if  they  will  go  to  the  inspired  record  as  they 
would  go  to  any  other  document  in  which  they  were  pro- 
foundly interested,  to  seek  for  what  is  right  and  pure  and 
good,  and  to  be  built  up  in  holiness — if  men  will  go  in  that 
way  to  the  Bible,  they  will  find  there  treasures  that  are 
not  to  be  found  in  any  other  quarter.  It  is  the  history 
of  the  evolution  of  the  highest  forms  of  human  nature. 
Along  with  this  history  are  accounts  of  w^ars,  revolutions, 
catastrophes.  There  are  records  of  lives  and  achievements 
of  men  of  God.  The  Book  is  filled  with  facts  and  lessons 
that  men  would  not  willingly  let  die.  I  could  not  afford  to 
let  go  what  it  has  taught  me  of  the  experiences  of  mankind 
in  the  patriarchal  age,  I  could  not  afford  to  lose  those 
grand  old  figures  of  the  Israelites,  more  majestic  than  any 
sphinxes.  I  could  not  afford  to  have  destroyed  the 
records  of  their  captivit}^,  and  of  their  wanderings  in  the 
desert.  I  could  not  afford  to  give  up  the  knowledge  that 
I  have  gained  of  the  commonwealths  that  sprang  from  the 


^  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

polity  of  the  great  lawgiver  of  the  ages.  Greater  than  he 
has  never  been  upon  the  earth,  as  a  mere  human  being. 
I  could  not  afford  to  lose  the  magnificent  wisdom  and 
poetry  and  spiritual  experience  of  those  grand  old  states- 
men of  the  Israelitish  nation.  I  cannot  afford  to  dispense 
with  one  of  the  records  of  those  wonderful  triumphs  of 
human  nature  under  God's  guidance.  The  w^orld  has  been 
marching  through  a  wilderness  amidst  conflicts  and 
victories,  and  the  records  of  these  victories  and  conflicts 
are  infixed  as  jewels  in  the  Word  of  God.  They  stand 
there  to  brighten  our  lives  on  our  pilgrimage,  to  encourage 
our  faith  and  hope,  to  cheer  us  in  our  childhood,  to  help 
us  in  our  manhood,  and  to  comfort  us  in  old  age. 

I  love  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  the  more  I  free  it  in  my 
mind  and  use  from  superstition,  from  narrow  ecclesiasti- 
cism,  and  bring  it  into  the  atmosphere  into  which  it  was  born 
and  in  which  it  has  lived, — the  more  I  make  it  the  man  of 
my  counsel,  the  guide  to  my  path  and  the  lamp  to  my  feet, 
— the  sweeter  it  is  to  me.  The  more  I  give  to  its  interpre- 
tation the  largeness,  the  variet}^  and  the  liberty  w^hich  in 
every  other  direction  w^e  have  learned  to  employ,  the  more 
profoundly  ami  affected  by  the  inspiration  of  God's  Word. 


II. 
HOW  TO  READ  THE  BIBLE. 


"Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto  my  feet,  and  alight  unto  my  path." — Psa.  cxix 
105-  

This  Psalm  is,  in  the  original,  a  literary  curiosity,  after 
a  manner  that  was  apparently  delightful  to  the  Oriental 
mind  —  the  formation  being  something  like  acrostics  in 
our  times,  every  letter  of  the  alphabet  having  its  section. 
But  while  the  outward  form  is  somewhat  peculiar,  the 
inward  form  is  still  more  striking.  It  clusters  together, 
from  every  point  of  view,  the  expressions  of  the  sweet 
psalmist,  whoever  he  was,  as  to  the  Word  of  God,  both  in 
the  written  Scriptures  and  in  unwritten  nature. 

The  language  is  unmistakable,  not  once  nor  twice,  but 
many  times,  in  which,  while  speaking  of  the  precepts  of 
God's  Word  as  written  in  his  time,  he  also  speaks  of  the 
law  of  the  Lord  as  it  is  made  manifest  in  nature.  It  con- 
forms, therefore,  to  our  idea  of  the  two  Revelations — the 
Word  and  the  World. 

You  will  observe  that  the  point  of  emphasis  in  the  pas- 
sage I  have  read  is  the  guiding  power  of  the  Bible  ;  and  if  at 
the  time  this  was  uttered,  when  comparatively  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  Scriptures  had  been  written,  that  portion  of  it 
which  we  are  now  almost  inclined  to  reject,  certainly 
largely  to  neglect,  was  so  much  esteemed  by  this  ancient 
writer,  how  much  more  would  he  have  rejoiced  if  he  had 
seen  the  fullness  of  the  revelation  of  God  as  he  is  made 
known  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  in  the  New  Testament  writ- 
ings of  the  disciples  of  Christ  ! 


Sunday  morning,  October  20,  1878.     Lesson  :  Psa.  cxix.  97-144. 


32  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

More  especially  for  the  advantage  of  the  young,  I  wish  to 
speak  to-night  on  the  subject  of  Reading  the  Bible.  There 
are  many  difficulties  connected  with  this  in  our  time. 
There  have  been  so  many  questions  raised  concerning  it 
from  the  outside,  the  authenticity  of  the  books  of  the  Bible 
has  been  so  much  disputed,  there  have  been  suggested  so 
many  scientific  objections  to  it,  the  reality  of  the  things  in 
it  has  been  so  much  contradicted,  that  there  has  come  to 
be  a  kind  of  haze  or  mist  in  the  view"  of  many  cautious, 
critical  minds  around  about  the  Word  of  God.  They  are 
not  prepared  to  say  that  there  is  not  something  in  it,  that 
it  has  no  authority,  that  it  is  without  influence  ;  but  they 
say  that  the  claims  which  have  been  made  for  it  cannot  be 
sustained,  and  that  we  cannot  believe  as  our  fathers  did. 
It  seems  as  though  there  had  been  a  kind  of  drifting  away 
from  the  Bible  on  the  part  of  people  who  fifty  or  even 
twenty-five  years  ago  would  never  have  thought  of  reces- 
sion. 

Then,  if  one  undertakes  to  read  the  Bible  he  is  like  a 
country  lad  going  into  a  strange  city  where  a  foreign  lan- 
guage is  spoken.  He  has  not  been  brought  up  to  the 
habit  of  reading  it  intelligently.  It  is  in  fact  a  library 
rather  than  a  book.  It  comprises  the  sacred  Scriptures 
of  the  Israelitish  people.  It  represents  their  then  whole 
literature,  and  substantially  their  entire  philosophy  and 
legislation  and  law  ;  and  parts  of  that  which  is  now  col- 
lected into  one  volume  are  separated  in  their  origins  by 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  years. 

If  we  were  to  gather  together  the  events  of  Cicero's  life, 
and  of  the  life  of  Sallust,  and  then,  coming  down  through 
the  medieval  ages,  should  stop  once  in  a  hundred  years 
and  pick  up  the  facts  of  that  period,  and  so  on  to  our  own 
day,  and  if  we  were  to  combine  these  all  in  a  single  volume, 
it  would  have  as  much  claim  to  logical  unity  as  the  writings 
of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  have,  that  were  brought  together 
simply  by  mechanical  means. 

The  Bible  was  not  all  given  at  once.  It  gradually  un- 
folded through  many  centuries,  representing  different  ages, 


HOW  TO  READ  THE  BIBLE.  33 

different  civilizations,  different  languages  ;  and  now  we 
have  the  results  brought  together  and  bound  up  in  one 
book.  When  a  man  reads  this  collection  without  any 
knowledge  of  it  historically  or  structurally,  and  without 
any  foregoing  familiarity  with  its  contents,  I  donotwonder 
that  he  stumbles. 

It  befell  me,  once,  to  go  to  a  neighboring  manufacturing 
town,  and  to  reach  it  at  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening; 
and  for  the  first  and  only  time  in  my  life  I  undertook  to 
find  a  friend's  house  in  a  strange  city  at  night.  I  could 
not  tell  whether  the  street  upon  which  I  entered  was  going 
out  of  town  or  into  town  ;  I  could  not  tell  whether  if  I 
turned  to  the  right  or  to  the  left  I  was  going  toward  the 
center  or  away  from  the  center  of  the  place;  I  was  helpless; 
and  it  was  only  by  rousing  the  people  in  a  house  that  I 
was  able,  at  last,  to  find  my  way  and  reach  my  destination. 

Now,  going  into  the  Word  of  God  is  very  much  like 
one's  going  into  a  town  of  whose  streets  and  lanes  he 
knows  nothing.  A  man  is  taught  that  he  should  read  the 
Scriptures.  Let  him,  for  instance,  sit  down  and  read  in 
Solomon's  Song,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  he  was  a 
good  man  or  not.  What  sort  of  a  time  would  he  find 
there?  Suppose  he  went  into  the  book  of  Chronicles,  and 
fell  upon  one  of  those  long  genealogical  lists,  or  upon  the 
account  of  David's  woes?  He  has  heard  that  this  book  is 
a  guide  to  his  feet  and  a  lamp  to  his  path,  but,  stumbling 
upon  such  passages,  it  would  not  be  strange  if  he  found  no 
meat  in  them.  A  man  who  did  not  know  where  to  go,  in 
search  of  curiosities,  objects  of  fine  art,  or  what  not,  in 
this  great  city,  might  wander  up  and  down  its  streets  aim- 
lessly and  uselessly.  There  is  a  great  advantage  in  know- 
ing where  to  apply  for  what  one  wishes  to  find.  And  in 
reading  the  Bible,  it  is  important  to  know  how  to  read  and 
what  to  read — for  this  book  is  not,  as  I  have  already  said, 
an  essay  or  philosophical  treatise,  whose  various  parts,  be- 
ing united,  make  a  perfect  whole,  but  is  a  cluster  of  books 
brought  together  through  long  periods  of  time,  having 
different  immediate  objects,  and  subserving  different  local 
3 


34  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

ends.  The  only  unity  is  one  of  general  spirit,  making  for 
righteousness  of  life. 

Then  there  is  another  difficulty  (and  it  is  not  a  small 
one) — namely,  the  enormous  amount  of  rubbish  that  has 
been  gathered  around  about  the  Scriptures.  You  know 
how  it  is  with  the  cities  of  the  East  that  are  now  being 
exhumed.  In  Egypt  they  are  digging  down  to  old  cities 
under  centuries  of  accumulations  of  sand.  In  Assyria  they 
are  doing  the  same.  Jerusalem  itself  lies  forty  feet  below 
the  level  of  the  present  city;  if  you  would  walk  the  streets 
where  the  prophets  walked  you  must  go  down  through 
rubbish  to  get  where  they  were.  But  no  statue,  or  pyra- 
mid, or  sphinx,  or  treasure  sought  was  ever  covered  down 
with  learning  and  other  accumulations  as  the  Word  of  God 
is.  If  you  doubt  it,  read  the  commentators.  Take  a  littlt 
of  Adam  Clarke,  and  Matthew  Henry,  and  other  writers 
on  the  Bible.  There  is  a  great  number  of  these  commen- 
taries (less  than  a  thousand  volumes);  and  it  is  almost  in- 
credible how  about  every  element — as  it  were,  on  every 
letter — of  the  Book,  in  regard  to  whatever  is  connected 
with  it,  in  one  way  or  another,  there  is  a  special  plea. 

To  a  very  large  extent,  moreover,  these  commentaries 
have  proceeded  on  a  radically  false  principle.  You  will 
perceive  how  hard  it  is  for  a  man  to  get  the  right  point  of 
view  in  reading  the  Bible.  I  hold  that  the  theory  of  the 
literal  inspiration  of  Scripture  is  a  theory  of  the  devil,  and 
that  it  will  lead  a  man  who  is  logical  and  consistent  as 
straight  into  infidelity  as  possible.  The  theory  that  every 
word  and  every  letter  of  the  Bible  is  inspired  of  God — in 
other  words,  that  by  an  irresistible  impulse  God  put  cer- 
tain thoughts  in  men's  minds  and  hearts,  without  any 
volition  on  their  part,  so  that  they  were  impelled  to  say 
exactly  what  they  did  say — is  the  absolute  destruction  of 
any  belief  in  inspiration.  Under  this  theory  a  single  error, 
certainly  a  series  of  errors — of  a  material,  exterior,  or  physi- 
cal kind — the  showing  that  dates  are  false  and  statements 
incorrect,  the  discovery  that  inconsistencies  exist,  that  one 
part  is  not  in  exact  agreement   with  another  part — these 


HOW  TO  READ   THE  BIBLE.  35 

things  utterly  ruin  the  faith  of  the  believer  in  literal  and 
verbal  inspiration,  and  so,  his  faith  in  any  inspiration. 

It  is  true  that  the  Bible  is  an  inspired  book— but  in  a 
much  higher  sense  than  that  which  is  thus  claimed  for  it, 
and  which  is  pragmatical,  pharisaic,  and  minifying.  I  have 
already  dealt  with  this,  but  for  the  young  there  may  be  a 
further  consideration  of  some  points.  The  grander  and 
truer  theory  of  inspiration  is  that  under  God's  providence 
all  the  moral  sentiments  and  noble  tendencies  of  mankind 
have  been  growing  in  the  direction  of  divine  truth;  that 
there  has  been  a  guidance,  a  general  enlightenment,  of  the 
human  race,  in  every  age,  especially  among  certain  peoples; 
that  men  have  developed  great  moral  principles,  and  some 
to  a  large  degree  have  grown  into  heavenly  knowledge; 
that  the  counsel  and  secret  thoughts  of  God  were  thus 
indicated  by  human  growth  in  grace;  that  exceptional 
persons  were  raised  up  in  every  period  who  could  see  what 
was  thus  made  known,  and  who  made  a  faithful  record  of 
What  had  transpired  under  this  inspiration  of  God;  and 
that  statements  were  made  by  them  of  the  experiences 
of  the  inspired  race,  so  far  as  they  were  unfolding  out  of 
nothing  into  something,  from  lower  to  higher  forms  of 
knowledge.  This  theory  of  the  inspiration  of  Scripture  is 
quite  reconcilable  with  the  fact  that  there  are  mistakes  of 
letters  and  words  and  even  of  historic  statements  in  it  here 
and  there,  without  lessening  its  spiritual  value. 

Now,  if  it  was  necessary,  for  the  development  of  the 
truth,  that  holy  men  should  be  inspired  of  God,  they  were 
nevertheless  men,  and  you  must  take  their  utterances  as 
infallible  only  for  the  purpose  of  moral  and  spiritual 
instruction,  making  allowance  for  the  imperfect  operation 
of  their  minds  by  reason  of  the  limitations  to  which  they 
were  subject  as  men.  In  other  words,  if  God  employs 
instruments  he  must  employ  them  with  all  their  defects 
and  liabilities;  and  as  he  did  use  men,  he  used  them  with 
all  their  defects  and  liabilities.  Therefore,  that  in  the 
Bible  there  are  literal  mistakes,  verbal  mistakes,  literary 
mistakes,  and    statistical    mistakes,    is  not  strange  at  all. 


36  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

These  do  not  detract  from  its  authenticity  as  a  genuine 
document,  or  its  authority  as  a  spiritual  guide. 

For  example,  in  showing  on  the  chart  where  the  Ged- 
ney's  Channel  runs  through  to  New  York,  suppose  the 
channel  should  be  put  down  exactly  right,  but  that  in 
giving  the  depth  of  some  outside  place  or  in  representing 
some  other  minor  detail — the  name  of  the  maker  of  the 
chart,  or  what  not — there  should  be  a  mistake;  so  long  as 
experience  proved  that  there  was  no  error  in  the  location 
and  width  and  dept'  of  the  channel,  and  no  error  that 
rendered  vessels  in  passing  through  it  liable  to  danger  or 
inconvenience,  would  you  denounce  that  chart  as  unau- 
thentic ?  The  fact  that  there  was  in  it  a  minor  mistake 
here  and  there  which  did  not  interfere  with  its  practical 
use  would  make  no  difference  with  its  real  value,  and  you 
would  not  think  of  finding  serious  fault  with  it. 

If  we  insist,  as  many  people  do,  that  the  writings  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  came  directly  from  the  mind  of 
God,  then  the  slightest  variation  from  accuracy  in  any 
statement  of  fact  w^ould  be  fatal,  because  we  should  say, 
"God  cannot  lie  ";  and  yet  there  are  many  errors  of  this 
sort  in  the  Scriptures.  If  it  be  claimed  that  the  penmen  of 
the  Gospels  were  absolutely  infallible,  we  have  a  test  case. 
All  the  four  Evangelists  state  that  there  was  written  in 
three  languages  over  the  cross  of  Christ  the  declaration, 
"  This  is  Jesus,  King  of  the  Jews."  Here  was  an  instance  in 
which  there  was  the  actual  writing  of  a  legend  or  inscrip- 
tion; and,  according  to  the  theory  of  verbal  inspiration, 
four  witnesses  that  saw  it,  and  wrote  it  down,  were  kept 
absolutely  from  making  a  mistake,  so  that  the  four  writ- 
ings would  be  just  the  same  ;  and  yet,  every  single  one  of 
them  differs  from  all  the  others  in  recording  it.  Matthew 
has  it  one  way,  Luke  another,  Mark  another,  and  John 
another.  There  is  not,  however,  any  such  variation  as 
invalidates  the  fact  that  is  stated.  The  general  statement 
is  the  same,  but  the  way  of  copying  or  remembering  the 
inscription  differs  in  the  several  cases.  They  do  not  all 
have  it  the  same,  letter  for  letter  and  word  for  word,  but 


HO  IV  TO  READ   THE  BIBLE.  37 

lliey  have  the  substance  alike,  and  their  minor  variations 
of  memory  evidence  their  common  honesty  and  trustwor- 
thiness. 

So  of  matters  concerning  dates  and  numbers.  A  person 
says,  "I  ate  strawberries  at  your  house  last  June."  In 
fact,  it  was  in  July;  but  what  is  the  difference,  so  far  as 
the  validity  of  the  occurrence  is  concerned? 

And  there  may  be  in  the  Bible  errors  of  time,  certain 
dates  may  be  wrong,  numbers  may  be  incorrect,  and  they 
may  seem  all  the  more  erroneous  because  the  use  of 
numerical  terms  differed  in  antiquity  from  their  use  at 
the  present  time.  The  frequent  employment  of  familiar 
incidents  was  often  accompanied  by  exaggerations.  For 
instance,/.:?;'/)'  was  used  as  we  now  use  a  hundred.  We  say, 
"I  have  been  there  a  hundred  times,"  simply  meaning  a 
great  many  times.  You  recollect  that  the  flood  prevailed 
forty  days,  that  the  prophet  fasted  forty  days,  that  Christ 
fasted /<?;Yj'  days,  that  Moses  wsls  forty  years  old  before  he 
went  into  the  wilderness,  that  he  was  forty  years  in  the 
wilderness,  and  forty  years  more  in  the  desert.  Fo?'ty 
means,  here,  a  great  many,  instead  of  a  definite  number; 
and  the  same  is  true  of  many  other  figures  in  the  Bible. 

I  am  instancing  the  theory  of  verbal  inspiration  to  show 
that  those  writers  and  commentators  on  the  Word  of  God 
who  follow  this  theory  have  undertaken  to  reconcile  con- 
tradictory passages  by  spiritualizing  them,  by  w^renching 
them  out  of  their  literal  meaning,  and  giving  them  a 
metaphorical  signification,  or  vice  versa;  so  that  when  a 
man  comes  to  read  the  Bible  according  to  their  notions  he 
feels  that  he  has  come  to  Babel,  and  that  there  is  confu- 
sion worse  confounded.  If  he  is  a  clear  thinker,  and  a 
straightforward  philosophical  man,  the  result  will  be  that 
if  he  really  believes  the  commentators  he  will  lose  all  con- 
fidence in  the  authenticity  of  the  Scriptures.  I  do  not 
wonder  that  multitudes  of  men  turn  away  from  the  Bible 
with  disgust  under  such  circumstances. 

Right  between  extreme  metaphoricalism  and  extreme 
materialism  stands  the  Word  of  God  itself,  claiming  to  be 


38  BIBLE  STL  DIES. 

simply  a  book  from  which  a  man  can  thoroughly  furnish 
himself  for  right  living.  It  gives  enough  of  God  to  enable 
you  to  understand  the  moral  character  of  the  universe. 
It  gives  enough  of  human  nature  to  enable  a  man  to  per- 
ceive what  ails  him.  It  gives  directions  enough  in  regard 
to  every  one  of  the  faculties  of  the  human  soul  and  every 
one  of  the  paths  of  life  to  enable  a  man  who  wants  to  walk 
in  the  way  of  righteousness  to  find  that  way.  It  gives  as 
much  information  as  one  needs  to  make  him  thoroughly 
honest  and  upright.  Nay,  more,  there  is  in  it  all  that  is 
necessary  to  enlighten  a  man's  understanding  and  fill  him 
with  faith  and  hope  and  love.  No  man  can  go  amiss  in 
regard  to  any  of  these  things  who  reads  the  Bible  wisely 
and  diligently. 

Notions  have  been  formed  from  the  Old  Testament 
that  good  men  (as,  for  instance,  David)  committed  great 
offenses;  that  treachery  was  allowed;  that  cruelty  was 
permitted  here  and  there  ;  that  God  winked  at  these 
things.  I  do  not  undertake  to  discuss  that  subject  now\ 
although  I  shall  do  it  later  ;  but  whatever  may  be  said 
about  the  divine  moral  government  in  the  primitive  ages 
of  the  world,  the  question  is  for  ever}^  man's  own  self, 
whether  there  is  not,  if  he  really  desires  to  learn  how  to 
live  right,  material  in  the  Word  of  God  to  enable  him  to 
do  it.  There  certainly  is.  For  a  man  who  undertakes  in 
earnest  to  ascertain  w'hat  to  do  w^ith  his  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings and  conduct  as  regards  his  fellow  men  or  himself 
individually,  in  the  household,  in  civic  affairs,  and  in  busi- 
ness or  economic  matters,  there  is  no  book  in  the  wide 
world  which  contains  so  much  and  such  varied  information 
as  the  Bible.  You  can  spin  and  weave  it  into  anything 
you  like;  from  it  have  been  formed  medleys  of  every 
description;  but  when  one  says,  "How  shall  I  be  a  better 
man  ? "  he  finds  that  question  answered  better  in  the  Word 
of  God  than  anywhere  else  :  when  you  come  to  the  ground 
of  its  ethics  there  is  no  dispute.  It  may  be  difficult  for  you 
to  know  what  Ezekiel  meant — I  do  not  suppose  he  himself 
knew  :  it  maybe  diflicult  for  you  to  understand  what  Jolin 


IJOir  TO  READ   THE  BIBLE.  39 

saw  in  the  Revelation;  you  may  have  a  very  imperfect 
notion  of  Daniel's  beasts,  and  of  a  great  many  other  mys- 
tical and  prophetic  things;  there  may  be  applications  and 
parallelisms  of  history  which  you  cannot  reconcile;  in 
regard  to  all  these  things  there  is  ground  for  difference  of 
opinion:  but  on  the  subject  of  essential  inanJiood  \.\\^r^  is  no 
difference  of  opinion.  Men  are  at  substantial  agreement 
respecting  it.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  and  the  Prot- 
estant Church  see  e3'e  to  eye  so  far  as  such  matters  are 
concerned.  The  sects  may  differ  about  philosophies  and 
theologies,  but  not  about  honesty,  purity,  truth,  hope,  love 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  Men  may  differ  in  regard  to 
doctrines  and  forms  and  ceremonies,  but  not  in  regard  to 
hardness  of  heart,  obstinacy,  and  all  other  elements  that 
come  into  play  in  our  daily  life.  About  these,  men  are  at 
agreement  in  all  churches.  So  much  of  the  Bible  as  it  was 
meant  that  we  should  live  by — is  perfectly  plain. 

If  you  v/ant  to  know  whether  or  not  pride  is  beneficial, 
there  are  no  two  voices  in  the  Bible  about  that.  If  you 
take  the  testimonies  of  Scripture  for  centuries  and  thou- 
sands of  years  you  will  find  that  they  have  always  been  the 
same  concerning  the  affections.  In  the  patriarchal  age,  in 
the  time  of  Christ,  and  all  the  way  down  to  the  present, 
you  will  find  the  same  teaching  on  the  subject  of  selfish- 
ness. In  the  earliest  day,  and  from  that  time  down,  you 
will  find  the  same  witness  borne  as  to  what  prayer  is.  In 
regard  to  meekness,  the  Psalms  are  just  as  explicit  as  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Indeed,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
was  largely  drawn  from  the  Psalms.  Respecting  the  expe- 
riences of  men  in  sin,  and  under  fear  and  remorse,  the 
statements  are  precisely  the  same  in  the  Old  Testament  as 
in  the  writings  of  the  Apostles.  Here  is  a  book  whose 
instructions,  though  written  at  widely  different  periods, 
agree  in  eyery  essential  particular.  Here  is  a  book,  por- 
tions of  which  were  written  hundreds  of  years  after  other 
portions,  the  later  authors  having  sometimes  no  knowledge 
of  the  writings  of  those  who  preceded  them,  and  yet  there 
is  identity  of  faith  and  experience.     Thev  are  all  precisely 


40 


BIBLE  STUDIES. 


the  same  in  regard  to  the  great  issues  of  life  and  character, 
and  the  ways  in  which  man  can  attain  reconciliation  with 
God  and  hope  of  immortality.  With  an  evident  develop- 
ment from  lower  to  higher  completeness,  the  similarity  of 
kinship  and  spirit  from  beginning  to  end  is  uniform  and 
constant. 

Therefore,  under  that  system  of  moral  inspiration  wiiich 
God  has  been  carrying  on  in  all  nations  and  in  every  age 
of  the  w^orld, — under  that  process  of  unfolding  in  which 
men  rise  through  social  refinements  and  affections  to  a 
larger  development  of  human  life,  —  under  that  divine 
scheme,  the  race  have  everywhere  and  in  all  ages  come  to 
the  same  results.  They  have  found  the  law  of  human  life. 
Just  as  a  man  finds  the  law  of  electricity  or  light,  so  men, 
through  thousands  of  years,  have  found  what  are  the  quali- 
ties of  character  which  fit  them  for  time  and  eternity;  and 
the  united  testimony  of  mankind  on  that  subject  is  both 
comprehensive  and  simple,  and  is  absolutely  without  any 
objection  w^hatsoever  from  critics  or  infidels. 

If  men  come,  then,  to  the  reading  of  the  Word  of  God 
through  commentators,  there  is  a  use  in  that  of  which  I 
will  speak  by  and  by;  but  if  an  ordinary  man,  like  any  one 
of  you,  should  say  to  me,  "  Mr.  Beecher,  I  want  to  live  a 
better  life,"  my  advice  to  him  would  be,  "  Steer  clear  of 
commentators;  read  th^  Bible — not  what  folks  have  written 
about  the  Bible."  ''  Well,  how  shall  I  read?  "  "  There  are 
a  hundred  ways;  but  the  way  above  every  other  way  is  to 
read  for  the  purpose  of  learning  how  to  be  a  right-minded 
man  and  how  to  live  right." 

As  regards  the  structured  errors,  the  literary  mistakes, 
the  arithmetical  inconsistencies,  that  are  found  in  the 
Bible,  they  neither  invalidate  the  general  drift  of  the 
history  recorded  in  it,  nor  change  the  evident  tenor  of  its 
instructions.  If  one  is  really  studying  the  text  of  Scrip- 
ture, its  formation  and  its  nature,  if  one  is  going  into  a 
philosophical  analysis  of  the  structure  of  the  Word  of  God, 
as  a  teacher  in  a  Sabbath  school  or  a  preacher  of  the 
gospel,  commentaries,  judiciously  selected,  may  be  of  great 


noil'  TO  READ  THE  BIBLE.  4I 

use  to  him  now  and  then;  but  as  a  general  thing  they  are 
not  essential.  And  though  there  may  be  some  advantages 
in  being  able  to  read  the  text  in  the  original  Hebrew  or 
Greek,  this  is  not  so  important  as  may  be  supposed.  The 
number  of  instances  in  which  the  meaning  is  not  suffi- 
ciently brought  out  in  our  translation  are  comparatively 
speaking  but  few.  Here  and  there  minor  errors  may 
exist, — the  sense  may  be  obscured,  rectifications  of  state- 
ment may  be  desirable,  passages  may  be  transposed  and 
taken  out  of  their  proper  connection, — errors  of  printers, 
of  translators,  of  copyists,  of  editors,  and,  for  what  we 
know,  of  authors;  but  the  marrow^  of  this  book  is  not 
touched  by  any  of  these  discrepancies.  Commentaries 
may  be  useful  for  teachers,  and  by  and  by  may  have  a 
sparing  use  for  ordinary  readers  of  the  Word  of  God;  but 
as  a  general  rule  the  book  itself  is  its  best  commentator. 

If  you  ask  me,  "  How  shall  I  read  the  Bible?"  I  say,  in 
the  first  place,  you  may  read  it  for  philosophical  knowl- 
edge, for  knowledge  of  antiquity,  for  local  historical  knowl- 
edge; you  may  read  it  for  the  sake  of  the  literary  pleasure 
to  be  derived  from  its  study;  you  may  read  it  on  account 
of  its  poetry  and  its  magnificent  prophecies;  but  you  must 
not  understand,  by  this,  that  you  are  to  read  the  Bible  for 
those  things  alone.  You  must  not  suppose,  for  instance, 
that  all  the  prophets  were  "  prophesying  "  in  the  sense  of 
foretelling.,  and  valuable  on  that  account.  Jeremiah,  Isaiah, 
and  Ezekiel  were  reforming  statesmen;  and,  although  here 
and  there  foretellings  were  mixed  up  with  their  discourses, 
the  greater  part  of  their  prophesying  w2iS  preae/iing  j  their 
exhortations  applied  to  human  affairs,  and  were  replete 
with  the  most  sublime  symbolism.  Nothing  in  other 
literature  can  approach  in  grandeur  the  utterances  of  the 
prophets.  They  are  equal  to  the  Psalms  of  David  in  this 
respect.  There  is  no  high  feeling,  there  is  no  low  feeling, 
there  is  no  feeling  of  joy  or  sorrow,  of  exhilaration  or 
despondency,  that  has  not  its  voice  in  the  Psalms.  Every 
passion  that  inflames  the  soul  has  its  lyrical  expression 
there.     Nowhere  else  are  portrayed  doubts,  fears,  thanks- 


4^  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

givings,  confidences,  as  they  are  set  forth  in  the  Psalms  of 
David.  A  man  is  fortunate  wlio  knows  how  to  describe 
his  own  emotions  in  the  language  of  David — only,  our 
emotions  are  so  small  that  we  are  like  David  in  Saul's 
armor  when  we  undertake  to  walk  in  the  language  of  the 
Psalms. 

The  dramas  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets  are  extremely 
beautiful.  The  book  of  Job  is  a  magnificent  drama,  as 
truly  as  Shakespeare's  plays;  but  it  is  not  a  historical  docu- 
ment. The  story  of  Ruth  is  unsurpassed  for  beauty.  The 
history  of  Joseph  and  portions  of  other  Bible  histories 
have  no  superiors  in  literature.  To  those  who  know  how 
to  wisely  cull  from  the  contents  of  the  Old  Testament  it  is 
a  magnificent  reading-book.  There  is  nothing  that  chil- 
dren listen  to  with  more  interest  than  portions  of  the 
Scriptures;  and  there  is  nothing  to  w^iich  persons  in  old 
age  cling  with  more  tenacity  than  some  of  its  passages. 
It  was  not,  like  many  of  our  modern  books,  artificially 
gotten  up  for  purposes  of  making  money.  It  is  a  book  of 
simplicity,  in  which  are  recorded  the  experiences  of  men 
who  did  the  best  they  knew  how  to  do.  It  is,  to  a  great 
extent,  a  statement  of  what  were  living  facts.  It  therefore 
possesses  the  elements,  not  only  of  simplicity  but  of  uni- 
versality, power,  truth,  and  beauty. 

You  can  read  the  Bible  also  for  controversy;  but  that  is 
venomous  reading.  It  may  be  necessary  to  gather  together, 
for  the  illustration  of  a  common  truth,  different  passages 
written  in  times  of  warfare,  or  during  periods  of  revolu- 
tions of  thought  such  as  those  which  occurred  in  the  lives 
of  Luther,  and  Wesley,  and  other  reformers,  when  great 
changes  "were  wrought;  it  may  become  essential  to  collect 
various  representations  of  truth,  draw  them  up  in  battle 
array,  and  with  them  bear  down  on  opposing  views  and 
teachings;  but  such  a  use  of  this  book  seems  to  me  to  be 
infelicitous.     It  certainly  is  uncongenial  to  me. 

I  have  spent  nearly  forty  years  in  the  ministry,  and  dur- 
ing the  early  part  of  that  period  my  work  was  more  or  less 
controversial.     I   was   born  not   far  from   the  time  of  the 


HOW  TO  READ   THE  BIBLE.  43 

Split  between  the  Old  and  the  New  School  Presbyterians. 
I  was  brought  up  in  the  gladiation  of  a  theological  semi- 
nary. You  may  think  I  do  not  know  much  about  theology. 
You  do  not  know  how  much  I  know  about  it,  for  I  have 
tried  to  forget  all  that,  and  to  recover  from  the  scars  and 
wounds  inflicted  by  a  controversial  reading  of  the  Bible. 

If  I  had  preserved  the  love-letters  of  my  mother  written 
before  she  was  married  to  my  father,  as  I  have  fragments 
of  a  few  of  them,  and  I  should  make  them  parts  of  a  con- 
troversy on  the  subject  of  the  affections  of  mankind,  and  I 
should  fight  those  affections  up  hill  and  down,  one  with 
this  passage  and  another  with  that,  until  there  was  not  a 
line  in  the  letters  that  was  not  associated  with  some  intel- 
lectual battle,  hoW'  utterly  would  they  be  emptied  of  their 
beauty  and  sweetness  !  How,  after  I  had  made  wads  of 
them  to  fire  at  views  different  from  those  which  I  chanced 
to  hold  on  the  subject  under  discussion,  should  I  divest 
them  of  those  features  which  gave  them  greatest  value 
and  attractiveness  ! 

Now,  the  Bible  is  filled  with  the  tracks  of  warriors.  The 
prophets  have  been  drawn  up,  like  athletes,  and  led  here 
and  there  by  one  set  of  controversialists  to  oppose  another 
set.  The  whole  New  Testament  has  been  marshaled, 
w4th  regimentals  on,  to  put  down  the  Unitarians,  the  Uni- 
versalists,  the  Arminians,  and  thfe  Arians.  The  tocsin  has 
been  sounded  in  this  great  book,  and  all  parts  of  it  have 
been  summoned  to  battle  array.  Every  man  in  the  con- 
flict has  been  armed  with  a  text  as  a  sword,  and  the  Word 
of  God  has  been  made  to  do  service  as  a  magazine  of 
artillery.  The  good  news  called  ''  the  gospel  " — the  glad 
tidings  that  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  Son 
to  die  for  it;  the  invitation  of  Christ,  "Come  unto  me,  all 
3"e  that  labor  and  are  heav}'-  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest," — these  things  theologians  have  hardly  listened  to, 
although  the  whole  creation  has  groaned  and  travailed  in 
pain  until  now.  Notwithstanding  the  New  Testament 
teems  with  expressions  of  the  deepest  feelings  of  sympathy 
and  compassion  for  human  infirmity,  these,  its  profound- 


44  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

est  elements,  have  been  for  a  large  part  unheeded  by  so- 
called  religious  teachers.  Instead  of  using  the  Bible  as  a 
means  of  help  to  men  in  the  great  exigencies  of  life,  they 
have  made  a  wanton,  v^^asteful  use  of  it,  for  purposes  of 
controversy.  They  go  into  the  Word  of  God  in  a  spirit 
utterly  at  variance  with  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  written. 

But  suppose  a  man,  in  the  right  spirit,  desires  to  read 
the  Bible  for  purposes' of  guidance  and  direction,  then  how 
should  he  read  it?  Well,  that  simplifies  the  matter.  In  the 
first  place,  you  want  to  read  the  Bible  with  reference  to 
your  own  state.  You  want  to  know  how  to  carry  yourself 
in  the  world.  A  good  book  to  read  with  that  object  in 
view  is  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon.  I  wish  every  man  who 
does  business  in  New  York  would  read  those  proverbs. 
Some  parts  of  that  book  can  be  read  with  great  profit  by 
every  one.  In  it  are  laid  down  precepts  for  secular  con- 
duct. On  the  subjects  of  virtue  and  vice,  of  giving  way  to 
unwarrantable  appetites,  of  right  and  wrong  methods  of 
administering  property,  of  hard-heartedness  toward  one's 
neighbor,  of  extortion  or  usury,  of  hospitality,  of  truth- 
speaking,  of  being  puffed  up  with  pride, — on  these  and  a 
thousand  other  important  subjects  which  relate  to  right 
living,  you  will  find  wise  criticisms,  witty  epigrams,  whole- 
some counsels,  in  this  book  of  Proverbs. 

Then,  when  you  have  read  that  book  for  the  right  order- 
ing of  your  life,  take  a  pencil  and  mark  the  passages  in  it 
whose  injunctions  you  are  willing  to  follow.  Make  a  little 
cross  on  the  margin  opposite  those  passages  that  you  have 
made  up  your  mind  to  adopt  as  your  rule  of  practice  ; 
and  put  an  interrogation  point  over  those  passages  that 
you  think  are  so  hard  that  you  cannot  promise  to  live  up 
to  them  just  yet. 

This  is  business.  If  I  were  to  deal  with  you  in  a  com- 
mercial way,  I  should  say,  "  Be  so  kind  as  to  mark  the 
things  which  you  have  to  sell  with  the  prices  at  which 
you  are  willing  to  sell  them,  that  I  may  not  be  laboring 
under  any  misapprehension."  So  in  counseling  you  in 
regard  to  reading   the    Bible — and  particularly  in  advising 


I/O  IV  rO  READ   THE  BIBLE.  45 

you  as  to  your  use  of  the  Proverbs — I  am  impelled  to  make 
a  similar  request. 

Take  this  book,  and  mark  the  things  you  have  no  hesi- 
tation in  following,  and  those  you  fear  you  cannot  follow. 
Study  especially  those  passages  that  you  think  have  a  per- 
sonal bearing  upon  you — upon  your  nature  or  disposition, 
upon  your  duties  to  your  neighbors,  upon  your  relation  to 
business.  You  may  find,  when  you  come  to  honestly  square 
your  life  with  the  rules  laid  down  in  the  Proverbs,  that  you 
will  be  obliged  to  break  this  or  that  partnership,  that  it  will 
necessitate  your  changing  your  companions,  or  that  it 
will  otherwise  completely  revolutionize  your  life.  This  I 
call  rubbing  the  Bible  in.  So  employed,  it  is  a  lamp  to  your 
feet  and  a  light  to  your  path.  I  instance  the  book  of  Prov- 
erbs alone  ;  but  you  know  as  well  as  I  d,o  how  this  same 
method  may  be  followed  throughout  this  great  Library  of 
Life — and  especially  in  the  books  of  the  New  Testament. 

Now,  then,  let  those  who  will,  ridicule  Moses  and  make 
fun  of  the  prophets  as  much  as  they  have  a  mind  to. 
You  will  have  business  enough  to  carry  your  life  by  those 
parts  of  the  Bible  that  commend  themselves  to  your 
judgment  as  being  true  and  wise.  It  is  a  book  that 
exposes,  in  their  glaring  deformity,  your  meanness,  your 
pride,  your  vanity,  your  lust,  your  inordinate  appetites; 
and  if  you  are  going  to  follow  its  directions  you  will  need 
God  to  help  you.  Nothing  is  truer  than  that  if  we  wish 
to  escape  from  the  lower  instincts  of  animalism  and 
organize  our  life  on  inspirations  of  higher  spiritual  wisdom 
nothing  but  God  can  enable  us  to  succeed. 

Therefore,  let  me  close  the  lessons  of  to-night  by  urging 
that  while  you  are  reading  this  book  you  let  go  up  to  the 
throne  of  grace  a  silent  prayer  that  the  Spirit  that  origi- 
nally sent  it  forth  may  give  you  the  inspiration  which  was 
given  to  those  through  whom  it  came,  and  make  you  hon- 
est in  obeying  its  injunctions.  If  you  lied  to  other 
people  as  much  as  you  lie  to  yourselves,  there  would  not 
be  a  man  on  earth  that  would  believe  you.  If  you  deceived 
other  people  as  you  deceive  yourselves,  you  would  be  given 


46  BIBLE   STUDIES. 

over  to  utter  unbelief  in  the  eyes  of  your  fellow  men. 
Therefore  ask  God  to  deliver  you  from  lying  and  self- 
deception.  Ask  him  to  give  you  light  not  only  to  read  the 
Bible  aright  but  to  discern  what  it  reveals.  Ask  him  to 
take  away  all  those  hindrances  that  prevent  your  being  just 
as  true,  pure,  and  honest,  as  this  text  requires  you  to  be. 

I  am  not  asking  you,  to-night,  young  men  outside  of  the 
pale  of  religion,  to  come  into  the  church  ;  I  am  not  asking 
you  to  accept  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  :  I  am  asking 
you  with  honesty  and  sincerity  to  read  the  Word  of  God  ; 
to  take  it  with  an  earnest  desire  to  ascertain  whether  or 
not  it  is  what  it  claims  to  be — a  light  to  show  you  how  to 
walk  ;  a  book  that  is  able  to  thoroughly  furnish  you  for 
every  good  work  in  this  life.  I  simply  invite  you  to  make 
this  experiment.  Is  it  an  unreasonable  request  ?  Is  it  not 
wise  for  you  to  read  with  the  purpose  of  knowing  what 
you  are,  what  you  were  designed  to  be,  and  how  you  may 
work  out  your  true  destiny  ?  You  are  brought  into 
circumstances  that  make  you  feel  that  you  are  not  living 
aright,  and  are  not  ready  to  die  ;  and  is  not  this  a  simple, 
rational  way  in  which  to  endeavor  to  arrive  at  correct 
conclusions  on  so  important  a  subject? 

I  beseech  of  you,  receive,  in  the  spirit  in  which  I  have 
spoken  these  things,  my  advice  in  this  matter.  Read,  as  I 
have  asked  you  to,  this  book,  which  has  guided  so  many 
thousands  out  of  darkness  into  light  ;  this  book  on  which 
your  father  leaned  for  support  ;  this  book  from  which 
your  mother  drew  consolation.  Do  not  throw  it  disdain- 
fully aside.  Do  not  despise  the  foundation  on  which  holy 
men  in  every  age  have  stood  and  w^orked. 


III. 
THE  BOOK  OF  BEGINNINGS. 


"And  beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  he  expounded  unto  them 
in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things  concerning  himself." — Luke  xxiv.  27. 


This  was  spoken  of  our  Master  after  his  resurrection. 
You  see  here,  with  a  little  modification  of  the  language, 
how  the  Old  Testament  books,  or  the  religious  books  of 
the  Israelites,  were  named  at  the  time  of  our  Saviour. 
They  were  called  "  The  Law  of  Moses,"  "  The  Prophets," 
and  "  The  Scriptures,"  or  "  The  Writings."  This  was  the 
threefold  definition,  in  which  were  included  all  the  books 
of  the  canon  now  called  ''  The  Old  Testament."  Where 
it  is  translated,  "  Beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets, 
he  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things 
concerning  himself,"  it  is  really  the  equivalent  of  saying 
that  he  interpreted  Moses,  the  Prophets,  and  the  other 
Scriptures  in  respect  to  himself — these  three. 

The  Old  Testament,  for  a  variety  of  reasons,  has  passed 
out  of  use  for  many  men  and  women  who  call  themselves 
Christians.  They  think  that  it  is  an  imperfect  guide  as 
respects  modern  times,  though  relatively  perfect  as  re- 
spected ancient  times  ;  that  it  was  superseded  by  the  more 
full  disclosure  of  spiritual  truths  by  the  Saviour,  and  by 
the  Apostles  under  inspiration,  and  that  Ave  do  not  need 
to  go  back  to  it  as  at  school  children  go  back  to  their 
hornbook  ;  that  men  learn  certain  necessary  lessons,  so 
that,  having  learned  them,  and  their  schoolbooks,  as  it 
were,  being  superseded  by  other  and  better  ones,  they 
have  no  longer  use  for  them.     This  is  all  the  more  so  be- 


Sunday  evening,  November  10,  1878.     Lesson  :  Psa.  xxvii. 


48  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

cause  there  are  so  many  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  that 
have  inherent  difficulties  in  them  ;  because  there  are  so 
many  things  recorded  which  men  are  supposed  to  be 
oblieed  to  believe,  but  which  strain  belief  to  the  uttermost ; 
because  there  are  such  wondrous  miracles,  such  remark- 
able phenomena,  such  associated  historical  statements,  so 
many  things  that,  according  to  modern  and  ordinary  in- 
terpretation, seem  exaggerated  if  not  absolutely  erroneous. 
Rather  than  take  such  statements  and  difficulties  implicitly 
they  find  it  easier  to  put  aside  the  whole  book  ;  and  because 
it  is  hard  to  get  gold  out  of  the  rock  they  throw  the  rock 
and  the  gold  all  away  in  a  heap,  and  let  them  alone. 

Now,  it  is  true  that  the  Old  Testament  stands  on  a  differ- 
ent ground  in  relation  to  us  from  the  New  ;  but  it  does 
not  follow  from  this  fact  that  there  is  not  in  it  present  and 
future  medicine  for  Christian  men  ;  and  it  is  my  desire,  in 
the  discourses  which  I  give  on  this  subject,  not  so  much  to 
criticise  for  the  purpose  of  tearing  to  pieces,  as  to  present 
the  Old  Testament  even  in  its  more  questionable  parts  in 
such  a  way  that  they  can  be  received  and  used  with  per- 
sonal profit  by  men  of  our  time.  Luther  said  of  it,  ''  It  is 
the  most  useful  and  beautiful  of  books."  There  is  eminent 
beauty  in  it  to  those  that  know  how  to  find  it  ;  and  it  is  far 
from  being  without  usefulness,  although  it  be  a  record  of 
the  first  things  that  are  known  to  us. 

Having  discussed  the  question  of  inspiration  and  re- 
jected the  theory  of  a  limited  and  verbal  inspiration  of 
these  writings, — accepting,  rather,  the  theory  of  the  inspi- 
ration of  the  human  race  by  its  holy  men  that  are  compe- 
tent to  receive  divine  impressions, — and  holding  the  Word 
of  God  to  be  a  record  of  the  best  thoughts  and  feelings 
which  have  existed  in  every  age  over  which  the  record 
passes,  I  propose  to  apply  that  theory  in  some  detail  to 
the  successive  books  of  the  Old  Testament;  and  if  it  shall 
seem  to  any  of  you  that,  in  the  course  of  this,  I  set  aside 
unnecessarily  a  good  deal,  or  depart  too  widely  from  old- 
fashioned  notions,  I  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that 
everybody,    without    exception,    in    the    whole    Christian 


THE  BOOK  OF  BEGIXNINGS.  49 

world,  has  set  aside  whole  books  of  the  Old  Testament — 
and  not  individuals  alone,  but  the  churches  themselves. 
For  where,  in  the  world,  is  there  any  man  who  ever  teaches 
that  Leviticus  is  binding  on  us  ?  The  whole  instituted 
religion  of  the  Israelites  has  been  set  aside  ;  the  altar  is 
gone,  the  tabernacle  is  gone,  the  temple  is  gone,  the  priest 
is  gone,  and  the  forms  of  worship  are  gone.  We  leave 
them  utterly.  If,  therefore,  to  any  it  should  seem  auda- 
cious to  teach  a  change  in  reference  to  the  books  either 
before  or  after  the  ritualistic  books  of  the  Jews,  comfort 
yourselves,  quiet  your  disturbances.  If  I  do  it  at  all,  I  do 
that  which  the  whole  church  has  done. 

In  the  Old  Testament  the  five  books  of  Moses  are  called 
"The  Law,"  "The  Law  of  Moses,"  and  "The  Book  of  the 
Law  of  the  Lord."     The  Rabbis  called  it  "  The  Five-fifths 
of  the  Law."  In  more  modern  times  it  is  called  "  The  Penta- 
teuch ''—Pentateuch  being  a  Greek  word  which  signifies /z'^ 
books.     It  is  made  up  of  Genesis,  Leviticus,  Exodus,  Num- 
bers, and  Deuteronomy.  In  Hebrew  the  Israelitish  books  are 
named  mainly  from  some  word  or  sentence  in  the  first  verse. 
Our   names    differ  from    those  employed  in    the    Hebrew 
scrolls.       Genesis  signifies   beginning   or   beginnings ;  it  is  a 
book  that  contains  a  history  of  the  beginnings  of  things  in 
the  world.     Exodus  signifies  going  forth,  or  emergence  ;  it  is 
the  history  of  the  deliverance  of  the  Israelites  from  bond- 
age, and  their  traversing  the  desert.     Leviticus  is  so  named 
because  it  is  the  book  that  treats  of  all  the  forms  and  ceremo- 
nies of  the  priesthood,  and  of  their  worship,  that  worship 
being  conducted  by  the  Levites— the  sons  of  Levi.  Numbers 
is  a  general  history,  and  it  is  called  Numbers  simply  because 
it  records,  takes  the  census  of,  Israel.    Deuteronomy  x'i,  liter- 
ally speaking,  the  Second  Law —d.  recapitulation,  a  second 
law-giving  or  enunciation  of  the  Law. 

If  Washington's  farewell  letter  had  included  the  whole 
history  of  the  colonies  in  brief,  and  the  theory  of  the  Con- 
stitution, with  the  general  features  and  the  policy  of  the 
free  commonwealth,  that  would  have  been  exactly  a  parallel 
of  Deuteronomy,  which  is  in  the  form  of  a  farewell  letter  of 
4 


so  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

Moses  to  the  people,  and  contains  a  recital  of  their  history, 
and  the  laws  and  ordinances  imposed  upon  them  by  God 
through  Moses. 

To-night  I  propose  to  consider  only  a  portion  of  the  book 
of  Genesis.  It  is  not  my  object  to  go  into  it  in  minutiae 
and  detail,  but  to  give  a  general  view  of  it. 

This  book  may  be  said  to  be  divided  into  two  parts. 
The  first  twelve  chapters  contain  the  history  of  that  vast 
space  anteceding  the  appearance  of  Abram  ;  and  the  rest 
is  an  account  of  the.  patriarchs,  Abrarri,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  of 
their  w^anderings,  and  of  their  posterity  dowm  to  the  period 
of  their  inclusion  in  the  Egyptian  kingdom. 

My  purpose,  then,  this  evening,  is  to  take  simply  the  first 
division  of  Genesis,  including  the  first  twelve  chapters, 
leaving  out  connecting  and  minor  elements. 

This  history  may  be  said  to  be  an  account,  first,  of  Crea- 
tion ;  second,  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  ;  third,  of  the  Flood  ; 
and  fourth,  of  the  Towner  of  Babel  ;  or  an  account  of  the 
creation  of  the  Terraqueous  Globe,  of  Man  in  his  primifive 
Condition,  of  the  Corruption  of  Men,  of  their  Destruction 
by  the  Flood,  of  the  Dispersion  of  Men,  and  of  the  Origin 
of  Languages. 

Before  entering  upon  that,  let  me  say  a  word  on  the  sub- 
ject of  authorship.  These  books  have  universally  been 
attributed  to  Moses.  In  modern  times  very  severe  debates 
have  occurred  on  this  subject.  I  do  not  consider  it  a  sub- 
ject of  very  great  importance  so  far  as  practical  utility  is 
concerned  whether  he  wrote  them  or  not.  The  mere 
name  of  the  author  of  a  book  is  not  half  so  important  as 
the  nature  of  its  contents.  The  result  in  my  mind  is  about 
this,  that  these  books  were  very  largely  produced  by  Moses 
or  under  his  direction:  either  compiled — as  the  first  twelve 
chapters  ;  or,  as  the  subsequent  chapters,  formed  from 
legends,  traditional  histories,  or  other  material,  giving  the 
same  sequences,  accounts  of  the  patriarchs  down  to  his 
own  time,  and  then  adding  his  own  personal  history,  and 
the  history  of  the  different  tribes  and  of  their  wanderings 
until  they  came  to  the  Promised  Land. 


THE  BOOK  OF  BEGINNINGS.  51 

I  have  no  doubt  that  the  substantial  basis  of  the  books 
was  from  the  hand  of  Moses,  or  that  they  were  written  by 
some  clerk  or  Levite  under  his  direction.  But  that  there 
were  not  corrections  and  re-editings  of  them  by  other 
hands  is  not  so  plain.  These  may  have  been  made  at  a 
comparatively  late  period,  during  the  reign  of  the  kings, 
and  not  far  from  the  Babylonian  intrusion. 

If  this  seems  to  be  tampering  with  the  inspired  author- 
ity, we  are  to  consider  that  the  rights  of  a  book  and  an 
author  were  different  in  a  primitive  age  from  what  they 
are  in  a  later  age,  when,  by  development,  authorship  has 
become  a  business,  and  passed  out  of  a  crude  and  rude 
state  into  a  regulated  state,  w^ith  methods  and  rules. 
When,  in  an  early  period,  books  were  made  on  sheets  of 
lead  or  on  prepared  skins;  when  but  one  book  existed  in 
a  nation;  when  it  w^as  a  thing  unknov/n  to  the  common 
people,  except  as  they  occasionally  heard  it  read;  when  it 
was  a  phenomenon  standing  unique  and  apart  from  every 
other  mode  of  intercourse — then  there  were  no  estab- 
lished rules  or  laws.  In  the  medieval  age,  certain  men, 
thinking  they  would  honor  and  glorify  God  if  they  added 
to  sacred  Scripture  some  theories  of  their  own,  not  doubt- 
ing that  they  weie  true,  committed  what  are  called  "pious 
frauds,"  that  in  our  day  would  be  not  only  exceptionable 
but  manifestly  improper.  For  a  man  in  this  age  of  the 
w^orld  to  tamper  with  history,  for  instance,  to  inject  into 
the  writings  of  Froude  or  Gibbon  statements  and  com- 
ments as  if  from  the  pens  of  Froude  or  Gibbon,  would  be  a 
high  offense  at  the  court  of  public  sentiment;  it  would  be 
an  outrage:  but  in  the  early  time,  when  there  was  no  trade 
of  book-making,  when  there  was  no  author's  profession,  a 
man  jotted  down  what  he  knew  of  his  people,  and  subse- 
quently some  man  who  came  after  him  added  what  he 
deemed  to  be  the  further  ascertained  facts  concerning  that 
people,  and  nobody  thought  it  to  be  criminal.  In  the  sim- 
plicity of  an  infantile  age  men  set  down  what  was  before 
them;  and  it  was  an  operation  without  guile,  for  there  w^as 
then  no   way   of  putting  together  for  preservation   addi- 


53  BIBLE  STI^DIES. 

tional  facts,  except  by  incorporating  them  in  the  single 
record  with  facts  already  set  down.  And  in  later  days 
critical  acumen  may  be  able  to  point  out,  in  ancient  and 
modern  documents,  where  the  line  runs  between  the  gen- 
uine and  the  spurious,  or  the  earlier  and  the  later. 

The  question  of  the  authorship  of  Moses  is  very  much 
to  historical  and  literary  criticism,  but  is  very  little  to 
common  readers.  It  makes  comparatively  little  difference 
to  me  whether  Moses,  or  a  Levite  or  some  scribe  in  the 
reign  of  the  kings,  wrote  what  are  called  "The  Books  of 
Moses."  Here  are  these  historical  books  handed  down  to 
us,  and  our  reception  of  them  is  to  depend  upon  their 
interior  contents,  rather  than  upon  their  authorship. 

Let  us  consider,  now,  the  accounts  in  Genesis — the 
Creation,  Adam  and  Eve,  the  Tower  of  Babel,  the  Disper- 
sion of  Men,  and  the  Change  of  Language.  In  regard  to 
all  these,  they  are  to  be  neither  accepted  nor  rejected  as 
scientific  or  historical  statements  made  in  our  day  would 
be.  You  are  to  bring  to  bear  upon  them  the  same  rules  of 
criticism  that  you  apply  to  any  ancient  document. 

Here  comes  in  the  principle  enunciated  last  Sunday 
night,  that  the  inspired  records  are  relative  to  the  want  of 
the  age  in  which  they  were  made,  and  that  a  record  which 
was  suitable  to  the  condition  of  the  understanding  of  an 
early  period  would  not  be  suitable  to  the  condition  of  the 
understanding  of  a  later  period.  If  any  man  holds  the 
theory  that  God,  in  the  beginning,  sat  down  and  wrote 
things  which  he  wanted  to  be  true  of  the  children  that  he 
created  on  the  earth,  and  that  those  things  were  to  be 
equally  true  at  the  beginning,  the  middle,  and  the  end  of 
existence;  in  other  words,  if  any  man  has  the  idea  that  the 
inspired  records  are  a  continuous  narrative,  an  uninter- 
rupted overflow  of  divine  thought  given  to  men,  and  that 
they  in  some  way  proceeded  from  God,  as  Mill's  philosophy 
proceeded  from  Mill,  as  Cowper's  poetry  proceeded  from 
Cowper,  or  as  Milton's  works  proceeded  from  Milton — 
then  he  must  take  everything  as  its  stands  in  the  Word  of 
(lod  without  modification.     But  there  can  be  no  fact  more 


THE  BOOK  OF  BEGIXXIXGS.  53 

indisputable  than  that  the  Bible  is  not  a  continuous  narra- 
tive, nor  an  uninterrupted  overflow  of  divine  thouo-ht  to 
men. 

The  Old  Testament  is  made  up  of  a  score  or  more  of 
books,  between  which  whole  centuries  roll.  Thev  are 
composed  of  histories  of  different  nations  in  different 
stages  of  development,  adapted  to  the  conditions  of  men 
in  given  times  and  circumstances,  and  their  uses  were  re- 
lated to  those  times  and  circumstances.  Therefore,  a  truth 
that  may  be  brought  out  in  a  large  measure  in  a  later  day 
in  an  earlierand  far  distant  age  might  have  been  brought 
out  simply  as  a  twilight  truth.  There  is  noonday  revela- 
tion in  the  New  Testanient;  in  the  Old  Testament  is  early 
morning  revelation.  Those  early  statements  of  the  begin- 
nings of  things  in  the  world  were  designed,  primarily,  for 
the  times  in  which  they  were  written  and  to  which  they 
came.  They  were  adapted  to  unripe  and  childlike  condi- 
tions of  the  human  race.  They  presented  the  thoughts 
that  were  in  them  in  forms  that  were  useful  at  that  time, 
even  if  they  should  cease  to  be  useful  in  later  days.  We 
are  to  interpret  them  by  the  light  of  the  later  inspiration 
of  the  human  race,  and  not  to  undertake  to  interpret  the 
later  inspirations  of  the  human  race  by  being  tied  up  to 
these  earlier  ones.  A  scientifically  ascertained  fact  in  a 
later  day  is  not  to  be  set  aside  for  the  sake  of  "saving  the 
Scripture,"  as  men  foolishly  say.  The  testimony  of  God 
in  the  whole  history  of  the  human  race  is  more  important 
than  to  maintain  a  special  form  of  teaching  or  truth  that 
existed  in  the  early  primitive  times. 

Take,  then,  the  history  of  Creation.  It  is  declared, 
apparently,  on  the  face  of  Scripture,  that  God  in  six  days 
created  the  earth,  and  all  the  things  that  it  contained. 
The  very  first  debate  originated  in  the  now  unquestionable 
fact  that  creation  was  not  a  peremptory  and  instantaneous 
thing.  Over  against  the  old  interpretation  of  Genesis, 
there  rises  the  divine  record  of  the  rocks.  Geology  in  our 
times  saj^s  that  between  one  period  and  another  of  this 
earth   ages   rolled — that   one   thing   was    not    created    on 


54  BZ/JL/C  Sl'fDIES. 

Monday,  the  next  on  Tuesday,  the  next  on  Wednesday,  the 
next  on  Thursday,  the  next  on  Friday,  and  the  next  on 
Saturday.  Evidence  to  the  contrary  has  accumulated  in 
so  vivid  and  compulsory  a  manner  that  at  last  a  theory  has 
been  settled  upon  that  the  "days"  meant  in  Genesis  were 
periods,  and  much  illustrative  matter  is  brought  to  bear 
upon  it. 

I  am  not  especially  interested  in  that  debate.  I  am 
satisfied  that  by  "  days  "  ages  were  meant.  All  is  picto- 
rial, and  adapted  to  that  idea.  But  I  have  no  doubt  that 
those  who  first  received  the  books  supposed  that  ordinary 
days  were  referred  to.  I  question  whether  they  could  have 
understood  periods  of  time  such  as  we  now  begin  to  un- 
derstand in  this  connection.  So  it  is  held,  by  the  intel- 
ligent teachers  now  in  orthodox  churches,  that  the  creation 
of  the  world  was  a  work,  not  of  literal  days  of  twenty-four 
^  hours  each,  but  of  periods  which  may  have  been  thousands 
of  years  long. 

As  a  part  of  this,  was  the  idea  that  Creation,  as  deline- 
ated in  the  book  of  Genesis,  was,  when  it  took  place, 
instantaneous,  and  by  the  voice  of  command  ;  that  God 
spoke,  and  it  was  done.  It  is  recorded,  "  God  said.  Let 
there  be  light,  and  there  was  light."  It  is  also  recorded, 
"  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  ;  "  but  is  it  to  be 
supposed  that  instantly  he  saw  things  creeping  and  grow- 
ing and  forming  ?  The  disclosures  of  the  globe  are  dis- 
proving this  conception  of  instantaneity  in  creation,  and 
showing  that  the  method  by  which  things  were  created 
was,  as  it  still  is,  one  of  gradual  unfolding.  In  every 
department  new  links  are  being  added  to  the  chain  until 
the  evidence  is  becoming  irrefragable  that  the  mode  of 
making  the  world  has  been  by  succession,  one  thing 
growing  out  of  another. 

Now,  science,  rightly  so  called  —  not  in  its  tentative 
suggestions,  not  in  its  first  shrewd  guesses,  but  in  its 
ascertained  facts  and  modes — is  the  voice  of  God,  just  as 
much  as  the  divine  decrees  on  Mount  Sinai  were  the  voice 
of  God.     A   fact  is  a  voice  of  God,     It  shows  what   his 


THE  BOOK  OF  BEGINNINGS.  5; 

thought  has  been,  it  illustrates  what  he  has  executed,  and 
there  is  no  going  behind  it.  To  den}^  it  is  perilous.  If  it 
be  different  from  what  the  record  has  been  supposed  to  be, 
if  the  ascertained  facts  of  creation  are  not  such  as  they 
have  hitherto  been  understood  to  be,  we  must  accept  the 
later  record,  the  growing  revelation  :  for  there  is  an  inspi- 
ration that  begins  things,  presents  them  partially  ;  there  is 
a  later  inspiration  that  gives  them  a  larger  development, 
so  that  they  are  seen  in  a  more  clarified  state ;  and  there 
are  final  inspirations  that  bring  them  out  in  full  complete- 
ness. 

The  process  by  which,  in  the  progressive  painting  of  a 
fine  oil  portrait,  are  brought  out,  first  the  rude  outline,  then 
the  crude  filling  in,  and  then  the  perfecting  of  every  part,  is 
the  same  process  as  that  by  which,  under  God's  inspiration, 
the  primitive  races  were  developed  from  their  primitive 
condition,  step  by  step,  to  higher  states,  until  in  these 
later  days  we  have  larger  understanding,  more  compre- 
hensive knowledge,  and  may  hope  to  be  nearing  the  final 
or  full  form  of  things.  The  inspiration  of  the  race  is  not 
by  fits  and  starts*;  it  is  by  gradual  development.  It  began 
with  the  beginning  of  man,  and  holds  on  with  him,  and 
will  continue  clear  down  to  the  remotest  period.  We  have 
not  come  to  the  end  of  inspiration  yet. 

Study  it  as  you  may,  in  the  light  of  God's  riper  reve- 
lation, the  Old  Testament  history  of  cn.,ation  gave  to  an- 
tiquity characteristics  of  the  sublimest  nature.  There  is 
nothing  low  or  mean  about  it.  Even  as  measured  by  tran- 
scendent modern  refinement,  it  is  grand  in  the  extreme, 
and  is  worthy  of  a  place — the  very  highest  place — in  any 
literature.  It  is  a  revelation  that  life  and  the  world  sprang 
from  the  forces  of  the  divine  will,  and  not  from  chance  ; 
that  the  world  has  not  come  from  mere  ether,  finding  its 
way  anonymously,  but  that  it  is  the  result  of  power,  grad- 
ual, prolonged,  differentiated,  under  the  divine  method — 
that  it  is  a  creation  of  God.  That  fact  stands  effulgent, 
in  the  record. 

Moreover  it  is  monotheistic.     In  the  cosmogony  of  other 


56  BIBLE   S7L'D/ES. 

nations,  the  creation  and  government  of  the  earth  were 
ascribed  to  multitudes  of  little  gods  ;  in  Genesis  they  are 
represented  as  the  result  of  unitary  divine  thought,  so  that 
there  is  harmony  throughout  the  whole  universe. 

Now,  if  you  take  the  narrative  in  this  larger  way  it 
is  very  extraordinary.  How  came  it  ?  It  was  prepared 
at  the  time  of  Moses.  It  is  acknowledged  to  be  a  primi- 
tive document,  or  a  compilation  of  primitive  documents, 
wrought  into  the  form  of  a  book,  by  the  hand  of  whoever 
was  the  early  scribe  or  author  of  that  part  of  Genesis. 
How  happened  it  that  away  back  in  the  beginnings  of  the 
world  such  a  grand  conception  of  the  highest  result  of 
the  creative  power  of  God  was  given  to  primitive  men  ? 

Look  at  the  details  as  they  have  been  since  disclosed  to 
mankind.  The  order  of  creation  is  substantially  ascer- 
tained. Much  is  now  supposed  to  be  understood  by  men 
of  science  as  to  how  it  took  place.  Not  that  there  is 
exact  knowledge  on  the  subject  ;  but  there  is  such  marked 
identity  between  the  recorded  order  of  procedure  and  the 
result  of  actual  scientific  research  as  to  make  it  impossible 
that  this  should  have  been  accidental.  Here  is  the  oldest 
document  concerning  the  proceedings  of  things  far  back 
of  any  recorded  history  ;  and  when  the  inspired  Word  is 
compared  with  the  record  of  God  in  the  rock,  in  the  soil, 
in  the  whole  structure  of  the  globe,  it  is  found  to  be  in  the 
main  correct. 

Such  an  account  as  could  be  developed  in  its  details  at 
this  age  of  the  world  w^ould  have  been  absolutely  useless 
to  an  early  period,  just  as  a  treatise  on  optics  would  be  of 
no  use  to  children  in  the  nursery  ;  so  if  all  that  is  included 
in  geology,  geography,  botany,  ethnology,  and  biology 
had  been  put  into  the  account  of  Genesis  in  the  early 
period,  there  w^ould  have  been  no  one  on  earth  competent 
to  understand  it.  It  would  have  been  like  eloquence  to  a 
babe  in  the  cradle,  or  philosopiiical  knowledge  to  a  child. 

The  next  notable  passage  in  the  book  of  Genesis  is  the 
account  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  in  which  it  is  said  our  first 
parents,  Adam  and  Eve,  were  placed.     This  has  been  held 


THE  BOOK  OF  BfiCIXA'iXGS. 


57 


to  be  a  literal  statement  of  fact,  I  do  not  so  take  it.  I 
side  witli  that  large  number  of  devout  Christian  men  and 
scholars  who  think  this  to  be  an  allegor}",  containing  a 
profound  spiritual  meaning  ;  who  think  that  the  man  is  the 
fact — not  the  story  in  which  the  meaning  of  the  fact  is 
conveyed.  Our  Lord  and  Saviour,  when  he  undertook  to 
impart  the  highest  truths,  followed  the  universal  custom  of 
his  race  and  time,  and  invented  parables,  inclosing  these 
truths  in  them.  The  New  Testament  is  full  of  parables  ; 
and  the  Old  Testament  is  all  alive  and  glowing  with  Ori- 
ental poetic  imagery. 

But  the  church  has  given  this  statement  of  the  Garden 
of  Eden  a  literal  rendering.  It  is  supposed  that  Adam 
and  Eve  were  created  perfect.  I  shall  not  stop  to  refute 
this  belief.  It  is  supposed  that  the  fate  of  their  whole 
posterity  was  made  to  depend  upon  their  conduct ;  tha^ 
when  they  fell,  all  that  should  come  after  them  fell  with 
them  ;  that  on  account  of  their  guilt  the  whole  human 
family  have  been  laid  under  a  curse,  and  that  you  and  I 
and  everybody  are  to  be  condemned  because  Adam  ate  an 
apple  the  eating  of  which  was  forbidden.  That  may  do  in 
a  theological  seminary,  but  not  in  the  minds  of  sensible 
men.  We  are  responsible  for  what  we  do  ourselves,  but 
not  for  what  our  ancestors  did.  Am  I  responsible  for  all 
the  iron  that  my  grandfather  forged  out  on  the  anvil, 
though  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  it?  Am  I  responsible  for 
all  that  my  Welsh  ancestors  did  centuries  ago  I  am 
responsible  for  my  own  conduct,  for  what  I  myself  do  ;  but 
I  am  not  responsible  for  that  which  took  place  before  I 
was  born.  And  to  say  that  the  whole  human  race  are 
morally  responsible  for  Adam's  act  in  eatmg  an  apple 
contrary  to  the  divine  command,  and  are  therefore  guilty 
of  "original  sin,"  is  absurd.  I  will  admit  actual  trans- 
gression on  the  part  of  Adam,  but  I  will  not  admit  "origi- 
nal sin"  on  our  part.  Theologians  hold  that  every  man 
has  had  sin  "imputed  "  to  him  on  account  of  the  sin  of 
his  great  ancestor  —  Adam.  To  such  devices  men  are 
obliged  to  resort  in  maintaining  erroneous  doctrines  ! 


58  BIBLE   STUDIES. 

But  whatever  may  be  set  aside,  this  remains:  That  man 
was  not  created  an  immutable  and  untemptable  being, 
fixed  as  a  crystal.  A  dove  holds  fast  to  the  creative  idea: 
it  is  a  perfect  dove  from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  An 
eagle  begins  an  eagle  and  is  always  an  eagle.  Everytliing 
runs  after  its  nature  unerringly,  without  mistake,  except 
man.  He  is  a  fallible  being.  He  has  it  in  his  power  to 
make  his  condition,  and  to  avoid  evil;  but  he  is  temptable 
and  mutable.  He  is  placed  in  circumstances  such  that  he 
has  larger  sovereignty,  with  plenary  power  to  determine 
his  own  lines  of  action.  He  is  organized  on  a  higher 
range  than  the  mere  animal.  This  statement  is  the  fact  in 
the  allegory;  and  it  is  a  fact  transcendent.  Adam,  who  is 
represented  as  being  temptable,  liable  to  sin,  and  yet  as 
having  power  to  choose  betw^een  good  and  evil,  stands  for 
the  human  race,  as  the  prototype,  the  allegorical  man,  the 
first  parent.  He  has  a  numerous  posterity;  for  there  is 
not  a  man  in  life  that  is  not,  as  Adam  w'as  represented, — 
mutable,  liable  to  go  astray,  ready  for  deterioration.  Adam, 
as  an  allegory,  stands  to  represent  what  is  the  nature  of 
man  as  distinguished  from  the  brute  in  creation.  Spirit- 
ually, he  stands  related  to  posterity  in  all  the  ages  and 
everywhere.  The  statements  of  primitive  history,  of  the 
beginnings  of  things,  point  undoubtedly  to  the  condition 
and  destiny  of  mankind. 

I  have  no  doubt,  then,  that  this  record  of  Eden  is  a  record 
of  facts  ;  but  I  do  not  at  all  believe  that  it  is  a  record  of 
facts  in  such  a  sense  as  many  men  suppose  it  to  be. 

Now  as  to  the  story  of  Noah  and  the  great  Flood.  It  is 
known  that  the  earth  is  round,  that  the  world  is  divided 
into  continents,  that  there  are  Africa,  Asia,  Europe,  and 
North  and  South  America,  and  that  there  are  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  oceans,  the  frigid  oceans  and  the  vast  Indian 
ocean  ;  but  there  was  a  time  when  men  supposed  that  the 
world  w^as  flat,  and  that  they  saw  the  wdiole  of  it  in  a  two- 
days'  journey,  in  the  provinces  east  of  the  Mediterranean, 
the  Black,  and  the  Caspian  seas,  and  that  it  was  there  sub- 
merged. 


7 //A  BOOK  OF  BEGINNIKGS.  59 

Doublless  there  was  anciently  a  great  deluge;  I  have  no 
doubt  that  there  was  a  time  when,  as  far  as  men  could  see 
the  earth  was  covered  w^ith  water;  unquestionably  there 
was  something  which  answered  to  the  preservation  of 
animals  in  an  ark;  but  to  suppose  that  the  w^hole  terra- 
queous globe  w^as  deluged,  that  all  living  i.iings  except 
those  which  w^ere  preserved  in  the  ark  w^ere  drowned,  and 
that  every  insect,  every  bug,  every  worm,  every  mosquito, 
every  butterfly,  and  every  animal,  w^ere  gathered  together 
in  pairs,  and  placed  in  the  ark,  and  kept  there  during  the 
flood — to  suppose  that  all  these  creatures,  of  which  there 
are  thousands  and  thousands  of  species,  were  so  gathered 
together,  is  too  much  for  me.  I  can  swallow  a  good  deal, 
but  I  cannot  swallow  the  sum  total  of  all  the  organized 
animals  on  the  globe!  How  many  animals  did  Noah 
gather  together  in  pairs  and  put  in  his  ark  ?  All  the  more 
common  ones  he  might  have  carried  through  the  Flood, 
but  not  the  animal  kingdom  as  w'e  understand  it.  That 
W'Ould  have  been  impossible.  As  a  testimony  to  the  cor- 
ruptions of  men,  as  a  witness  to  the  great  natural  law  by 
which  God  cuts  off  the  wicked,  this  account  is  important, 
and  has  great  force.  We  are  to  interpret  the  story  of 
the  Flood  as  they  interpreted  it  to  whom  it  w^as  given, — 
as  a  lesson  of  the  judgment  of  God;  but  not  by  taking  the 
whole  of  modern  knowledge,  and  carrying  it  back  to 
antiquity,  and  undertaking  to  make  that  ancient  statement 
include  all  that  has  subsequently  been  evolved  by  instruc- 
tion and  research  into  the  multitudinous  myriads  of  the 
animal  kingdom.  This  is  the  record  of  a  fact ;  but  not  of 
the  fact  theologically  ascribed  to  it  in  modern  days. 

Next  in  order  comes  the  history  of  the  Tower  of  Babel, 
as  an  explanation  of  the  different  languages  of  the  globe 
I  have  no  doubt  that,  at  the  time,  this  w^as  the  very  best 
account  of  that  history  which  could  be  made.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  it  is  a  faithful  representation  of  the  under- 
standing in  that  age  of  the  fact  of  the  differing  languages 
of  the  races  of  men,  I  have  no  doubt  that  there  was  some 
answering  fact  in  the  history  of  the  people — namely,  that 


Go  /v//)'/,/-  sir  I)  IKS. 

there  was  a  scattering  of  the  builders  of  that  tower,  and 
that  to  this  was  attached  the  impression  that  they  went 
forth  speaking,  from  that  hour  and  moment,  different  lan- 
guages, as  a  lesson  against  heaven-defying  ambition. 
Yet  even  such  a  fact  would  in  our  day  find  a  more  natural 
rendering, — namely,  that  when  men  were  divided  and 
scattered  abroad,  out  of  that  circumstance  sprang  a  variety 
of  new  conditions,  associations,  and  wants  which  led — as 
they  always  do  lead — to  the  necessity  of  differences  of 
language. 

Looking  back  over  the  ground  we  have  trodden,  I 
remark,  first,  by  way  of  application.  How  little  is  the 
knowledge  that  is  given  in  the  record  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment !  Of  the  immense  periods  of  time  from  the  history 
of  the  first  man  on  earth  down  to  the  account  of  Abram,  it 
would  seem  as  though  the  thing  spoken  of  occurred 
within  the  space  of  a  few  scores  or,  at  most,  hundreds  of 
years;  but  between  the  beginning  of  the  human  race  on 
earth  and  the  time  of  Abram  must  have  elapsed  thousands 
and  thousands  and  thousands  of  years. 

Yet  I  have  given  you  the  substance  of  the  whole  history 
of  that  period  which  is  recorded.  Thousands  of  years 
past, — the  most  momentous  years  that  have  been  gone 
through  by  the  human  race, — and  not  a  line  nor  a  word  ! 
Thousands  and  thousands  of  men,  in  thousands  and  thou- 
sands of  years,  unfolded  without  a  record  !  How  infantile 
was  the  race  as  represented  by  the  record  when  we  first 
begin  to  get  some  thought  and  knowledge  of  them!  And 
their  condition  at  that  point  in  their  history  when  the 
record  first  speaks  of  them,  as  they  were  beginning  to 
emerge  toward  manhood — how  low,  how  uncivilized,  how 
crude,  how  nearly  animal  it  was!  What  knowledge  had 
the  human  race  then  of  the  world  on  which  they  dwelt? 
None.  Did  they  understand  the  law  of  the  sun  or  of  the 
planetary  bodies?  Not  at  all.  Did  they  have  any  concep- 
tion of  the  laws  generally  which  govern  physical  things? 
Far  from  it.  There  was  no  revelation,  no  inspiration, 
which  taught  them  these  things.     Was  there  anybody  or 


THE  BOOK  OF  BEG/XX/,\GS.  6i 

anything  which  said  to  them,  "This  is  the  globe  on  which 
God  has  appointed  your  destiny;  these  are  the  laws  by 
which,  observing  them,  you  are  to  maintain  life  ?  "  No.  Not 
a  syllable  was  there  disclosed  to  the  primitive  human  race 
on  these  subjects.  What  did  man  know  of  men  ?  What 
is  there  in  the  record  which  speaks  of  man's  own  personal 
self  and  the  knowledge  of  it  ?  There  is  no  evidence  that 
man  ever  knew"  that  he  was  a  thinking  being  or  that  there 
w^as  a  beginning  of  thought  in  him.  No  man  knew  that 
there  was  a  heart  with  such  force  that  it  carried  Hfe 
through  his  whole  body.  No  man  was  aware  that  he  had 
a  liver  in  which  the  devil  resided.  No  man  undet stood 
the  structure  of  his  being,  outward  or  inward.  In  respect 
to  his  creation,  his  development,  and  his  destiny  there 
was  no  instruction  given.  What  knowledge  of  ethics,  ot 
right  and  wrong,  was  given  to  him  ?  None.  There  is  no 
trace  in  the  Old  Testament  record  of  the  setting  up  ot 
any  ethical  system  that  met  the  wants  of  men  in  society 
Indeed,  there  was  no  society.  Men  were  wanderers  in  the 
desert.  They  w^ere  a  pastoral  people.  They  w^ere  sav- 
ages. Life  was  slowly  evolved.  Those  ideas  which  lead 
to  the  performance  of  duties  had  not  yet  been  impressed 
upon  the  mind.  The  whole  system  by  wdiich  men  are  to 
regulate  their  conduct  toward  each  other  was  not  pro- 
claimed even  in  its  beginnings  until  you  come  far  down  in 
the  Old  Testament  record. 

What  provision  was  made  for  true  worship  in  all  the 
period  before  Abram's  time,  yes,  and  throughout  all  the 
patriarchal  period  ?  Polytheistic  systems  had  grown  up 
among  the  Phoenicians,  Assyrians,  Babylonians,  and  Egyp- 
tians ;  but,  as  I  shall  show  next  Sunday  night,  there  was 
among  all  the  early  Hebrews  not  a  church  nor  a  tabernacle 
known,  and  there  was  no  order  of  priests.  There  was  now 
and  then  an  altar  ;  on  special  occasions,  intermitting  at  rare 
epochs,  there  were  prayers  ;  but  the  whole  series  of  He- 
brew religious  services  were  of  comparatively  modern  date 
The  attempts  to  carry  back  the  church  to  that  early  period 
and  to  prove   its    existence    by  records  in    the    primitive 


62  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

Scriptures,  involves  such  violent  stretchings  of  fact  and 
application  as  ought  to  make  an  honest  man  blush  with 
shame.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  conscious  deceit  ;  but 
to  undertake  to  harmonize  the  ancient  inspired  records 
with  modern  religious  developments  leads  to  an  amount 
of  unconscious  dishonest  quibbling  that  would  cause  a 
man  who  indulged  in  them  to  be  turned  out  of  a  law-court. 
Even  where  the  judges  themselves  were  partial  in  his 
favor,  I  do  not  think,  according  to  the  procedure  of  human 
affairs,  that  such  improbabilities  as  have  been  brought 
forward  by  interpreters  Of  the  Word  of  God  in  regard  to 
views  and  doctrines  would  be  tolerated. 

How  restricted,  when  we  look  at  it,  do  we  find  the 
knowledge  and  the  nature  of  God's  moral  government  to 
have  been  !  There  was  no  divine  teacliing  on  these 
subjects,  so  far  as  the  inspired  record  is  concerned,  until 
long  after  the  time  of  Abram.  There  are  hints  of  crude 
worship  by  Abel  and  Cain,  and  recognition  of  God  by 
Enoch  and  Noah.  But  there  was  no  literature  of  Jehovah. 
There  was  vague  knowledge  of  God  and  creation,  but 
almost  nothing  else  was  taught  to  men  until  a  vastly  later 
period.  Putting  his  hand  through,  the  great  dark  ante- 
cedent period,  and  gathering  out  of  it  all  the  elements 
that  were  known  of  God  and  religion  and  morality,  Moses 
brought  together  the  early  teachings  ;  but  what  were 
they  ?  The  Stories  of  Creation,  the  Garden  of  Eden,  the 
Flood,  and  the  Tower  of  Babel.  These  were  all  there  was, 
and  they  covered  no  man  knows  how  many  thousands  of 
years  of  the  existence  of  the  human  race.  Yet  there  are 
men  who  attempt  to  take  the  advanced  knowledge  of 
these  later  days  and  carry  it  back  to  primitive  facts,  and 
give  to  them  the  same  interpretation  that  they  give  to 
facts  that  are  transpiring  among  us  to-day.  It  is  a  mon- 
strous misuse  of  the  Old  Testament.  It  is  the  very  way  to 
kill  the  Scriptures  dead — if  they  could  be  killed.  When 
this  history  of  tlie  })rimitive  condition  of  the  world  was 
first  dawning  into  twilight,  men  saw  men  as  trees  w^alking. 
The  wind  they  were  accustomed  to  think  of  as  tlie  breath 


THE  BOOK  OF  BEGJNAIXGS  0^ 

of  God.  When  the  lightning  flashed  they  thought  it  was 
his  eye  flashing  over  the  earth.  When  they  heard  the 
thunder  they  thought  it  was  his  voice,  and  they  said, 
"  God  is  speaking."  In  their  infancy  men  looked  at  all  the 
facts  about  them  with  uninstructed  eye  and  undeveloped 
philosophy,  and  the  best  that  they  got  out  of  them  is  put 
down  in  the  sacred  writings,  and  is  precious  and  valuable. 
Here  is  the  history  of  the  beginnings  of  the  human  race. 
You  have  a  chance  to  measure  the  difference  between  man 
at  the  beginning  of  time  and  man  in  our  day. 

Is  it  not  a  striking  fact  that  not  only  at  that  ancient 
period  but  away  down  to  the  time  of  Christ,  immortality 
was  not  known  to  the  Jews  ?  There  is  not  a  trace  of  it,  not 
a  word  concerning  it,  in  the  five  books  of  Moses.  It  is  not 
wrought  into  precept  or  statement  ;  it  is  not  made  a 
sanction  or  an  authority  ;  it  is  not  mentioned  in  any  way  ; 
it  is  utterly  unknown  in  the  early  Scriptures  ;  and  even  in 
the  later  prophets  the  allusions  to  it  are  dubious. 

Take  this  history,  then,  as  a  twilight  inspiration  of  the 
nascent  race,  as  a  record  of  their  progress,  as  a  disclosure 
of  their  development,  of  the  simplicity  and  beauty  of  their 
lives,  and  it  has  a  moral  power  as  well  as  great  beauty  and 
transcendent  excellence.  Let  it  stand  to  show  what  men's 
ideas  were  at  the  beginning  of  their  history.  Let  the  his- 
torical documents  of  the  Bible,  the  simple  statements  of 
the  Old  Testament,  not  be  damaged  by  being  interpreted 
according  to  the  laws  of  modern  science.  Let  them  re- 
main as  instructive  allegories,  or  as  the  best  account  that 
could  be  given  in  those  early  days,  of  phenomena  which 
men  could  not  understand. 

I  read  the  accounts  in  this  old  Book  with  ever-grow- 
ing pleasure.  I  read  them  with  more  profit  than  I  did  in 
childhood,  when  I  held,  in  common  with  the  uninstructed 
church,  that  the}^  were  exact  inspirations  and  revelations. 
I  now  walk  in  those  dim  aisles  of  antiquity,  and  hear  the 
lisping  syllables  of  primitive  man,  and  behold  the  way  of 
God  toward  him,  and  draw  lessons  as  to  how  we  are  to 
deal  with  the  savage  and  the  wants   of  men  from  seeing 


64  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

how  God  dealt  with  nascent  man, — for  the  bottom  of 
society  represents  the  beginnings  of  the  world.  There  is 
degradation  in  the  communities  in  which  we  dwell;  nay, 
the  primitive  animal  instincts  of  man  are  in  our  very 
selves;  and  we  have  need  of  the  wisdom  that  comes  from 
the  inspection  of  the  divine  method  as  God  infuses  himself 
into  institutions  and  policies  and  manhood  itself,  by  adapt- 
ing his  truth  to  the  conditions  and  wants  of  mankind. 

Remember  Him  who  spake  as  never  man  spake,  saying 
to  his  disciples,  "  I  have  many  things  to  tell  you,  but  ye  are 
not  able  to  bear  them  now."  Christ  adapted  his  instruction 
to  his  disciples,  even  so  late  as  that  period  when  he  was  on 
the  earth,  according  to  the  measure  of  their  understand- 
ings, and  not  according  to  the  largeness  and  fullness  of 
the  truth  as  he  understood  it ;  and  how  much  more  may 
we  presume  that  the  same  thing  would  have  been  done  by 
God's  providence  when  the  human  race  was  but  as  a  babe 
in  its  cradle,  unknowing  and  incapable  of  knowledge  ! 

And  if,  according  to  the  measure  of  their  knowledge, 
the  race  in  times  gone  by  were  responsible  not  only  for 
conduct  but'  for  character ;  if  the  law  of  cause  and  effect 
was  just  as  powerful  in  the  moral  kingdom  from  the 
beginning  as  the  law  of  cause  and  effect  is  in  the  physical 
kingdom  ;  if  they,  in  accordance  with  the  small  light  they 
had,  were  under  condemnation  for  disobedience, — as  all 
these  ancient  histories  show  that  they  were, — how  much 
more  responsible  are  we,  how  much  more  shall  we  be 
amenable  to  the  law  of  cause  and  effect,  and  how  much 
more  shall  we  be  under  condemnation — we,  upon  whom 
has  come  the  knowledge  that  has  been  gathered  through 
successive  ages,  that  has  accumulated,  and  that  has  rolled 
down  upon  us,  if  we  do  not  therewith  lay  the  foundations 
of  purified  life,  and  furnish  the  motives  of  a  nobler  man- 
hood ! 


IV. 
ABRAHAM. 


"  Looking  unto  the  promise  of  God,  he  wavered  not  through  unbelief, 
but  waxed  strong  through  faith,  giving  glory  to  God,  and  being  fully 
assured  that,  what  he  had  promised,  he  was  able  also  to  perform.  Where- 
fore also  it  was  reckoned  unto  him  for  righteousness. — Rom.  iv.  20-22. 


It  is  indispensable,  if  we  take  the  full  comfort  of  sacred 
Scripture,  that  we  should  wholly  get  rid  of  that  natural 
but  very  incorrect  idea  that  it  is  something,  in  all  its  nature 
and  parts,  which  is  perfect, — unless  we  reckon  imperfec- 
tion as  an  element  of  perfection,  as  we  must.  For  if  it  be 
true  that  the  scheme  of  creation  in  the  mind  of  God  is  to 
evolve  from  the  lowest  conditions  a  race  from  ignorance, 
little  by  little,  to  more  knowledge,  and  from  a  low  estate 
of  virtue,  step  by  step,  to  a  higher  ;  if,  in  other  words,  it  is 
a  part  of  the  divine  plan  that  the  beginnings  of  things 
shall  be  infantine,  then  it  is  indispensable  that  the  econ- 
omy of  these  beginnings  shall  have  the  nature  of  imper- 
fectness. 

It  is  therefore  entirely  in  accordance  with  this  whole 
divine  plan,  and  it  takes  nothing  from  the  sanctity  of 
Scripture,  to  find  that  in  the'early  periods  there  is  the  rec- 
ord of  much  that  bears  unmistakably  the  stamp  of  imper- 
fection. Otherwise  it  would  not  be  a  truthful  or  a  fitting 
record.  If  you  represent  men  as  having  observed,  before 
the  era  of  observation  was  developed  ;  if  you  speak  of  men 
as  naving  discriminated  between  the  physical  and  the 
spiritual,  before  the  time  came  when  human  nature  was 
able  to  do  this  ;  if  you  describe  the  early  simplicity  of  the 

Sunday  evening,  November  17,  1878.     Lesson  :  Heb.  xi.  1-16. 

5 


66  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

pastoral  lives  of  a  people  according  to  the  conditions  of 
men  in  civilized  society,  —you  carry  doubt  dud  unbelief  back 
upon  these  early  periods  to  every  man  that  is  philosoph- 
ical, that  loves  truth  and  is  sensitive  to  it :  but  if  ancient 
records  come  down  to  us  bringing  memorials  of  earlier  days 
having  all  the  mistakes  of  imperfection  in  them,  they  carry- 
their  own  evidence  of  being  a  transcript  of  those  rude, 
unknowing,  superstitious  times. 

So  we  may,  in  some  sense,  say  that  imperfectness  is  one 
of  the  signs  of  genuineness.  As  the  history  of  a  child,  if 
written,  will  be  a  history  of  prattle,  of  misunderstanding,  of 
obliquity  in  various  ways  ;  as  in  order  to  be  a  true  history 
it  must  contain  an  account  of  these  imperfections,  so  the 
earlier  records  of  a  remote  people  may  well  be  expected  to 
bear  in  themselves  these  evidences  of  veracity. 

The  Arabian,  the  Persian,  the  Jew,  the  Christian,  the 
Mohammedan,  all  hold  in  sacred  reverence  the  name  of 
Abram.  This  name  is  more  celebrated  than  any  other  in 
universal  history.  We  marvel  at  this,  for  Abram  was  not 
a  military  hero.  He  was  not  a  founder  of  cities.  He  was 
not  the  king  of  an  empire.  Nor  was  he,  for  aught  that  we 
know,  a  great  thinker,  nor  a  teacher,  in  any  particular  sense 
of  the  term.  No  line  fell  from  his  pen.  No  golden  sen- 
tence has  been  preserved  from  his  lips.  Unlike  Confucius, 
or  Zoroaster,  or  Buddha,  or  Moses,  he  founded  no  system 
either  of  philosophy,  of  religious  belief,  or  of  worship.  He 
was  a  wandering  shepherd,  and  nothing  more  than  that. 
If  you  would  see  his  living  image,  as  it  exists  to-day  in  real 
life,  go  to  the  original,  the  Bedouin  sheik  with  his  turbaned 
head,  his  cloak,  and  his  long  spear.  This  wild  chief  of  the 
wandering  tribes  of  the  East  may  not  be  your  conception 
of  Abram  which  is  founded  upon  the  pictures  of  modern 
artists,  but  without  doubt  it  is  the  very  life-form  of  the 
patriarch. 

The  history  of  this  great  chief  is  very  simple  ;  it  would 
seem,  at  first,  as  though  there  were  but  little  in  it  for  com- 
ment ;  and  yet,  upon  consideration,  there  is  in  it  more  than 
can  be  encompassed  in  any  discourse — more  than  the  plan 


ABRAHAM.  67 

of  these  Bible  lectures  will  permit  me  to  enter  upon.  I 
must  skeletonize  it. 

He  was  called  by  name,  first,  Abram  —  "  Father  of  Ele- 
vation "  or  "Great  Father";  but  in  later  life  Abraham — 
"  The  Father  of  Multitudes,"  owing  to  the  promise  which 
was  made  to  him,  that  his  posterity  should  be  as  numerous 
as  the  stars  in  the  heavens,  or  as  the  sands  upon  the  sea- 
shore. He  was  "  the  father  "  pre-eminent.  He  was  the 
founder  of  a  nation,  without  being,  at  the  same  time,  a 
pretender  to  anything  that  he  was  not.  He  did  not  pro- 
fess to  be  a  god,  or  a  demigod.  In  regard  to  heroes,  the 
founders,  the  lawgivers  of  all  lands  of  antiquity,  you  shall 
find  in  their  history  the  beginnings  enshrouded  in  the  pre- 
tense that  they  were  in  intimate  communion  with  God,  in 
the  same  sense  in  which  holy  men  are  in  communion  with 
him.  Not  so  Abram.  He  never  moved  out  of  the  simple 
sphere  of  the  shepherd  life.  But  he  is  known  universally 
as  "  the  father,"  and  is  termed  familiarly  in  the  literature  of 
many  nations  yet,  not  "Abram,"  nor  "  Father  of  the  Faith- 
ful," nor  "  Father  of  Multitudes,"  only,  but  "  The  Father." 
And  it  is  a  little  remarkable  that,  reaching  down  through 
the  space  of  thousands  and  thousands  of  years,  we  find, 
when  the  new  system  came  in,  and  the  last  great  Teacher 
appeared,  that  he  taught  us  to  begin  the  very  approach  to 
God  with  the  phrase,  "Our  Father,  which  art  in  heaven." 
This  is  antiquity  connected  with  the  later  periods  of  life. 

Abram  was  the  ninth  descendant  of  Shem,  son  of  Noah. 
After  the  increase  of  Noah's  posterity  in  Armenia  they 
came  down  from  the  mountainous  country  into  what  is 
called  Mesopotamia,  the  southern  part  of  it — Chaldea. 
Abram  is  said  to  have  dwelt  in  Ur  with  his  father  and 
brethren.  An  Ur  used  to  be  located  at  a  point  where  the 
Tigris  and  Euphrates  empty  into  the  gulf  ;  but  there  were 
three  or  four  or  five  places  by  that  name,  and  the  best 
knowledge  we  have  of  it  is  that  it  was  probably  the  Ur 
lying  far  to  the  north  of  the  mouths  of  the  Tigris  and  the 
Euphrates — that  it  was  in  the  upper  part,  near  the  Arme- 
nian mountains. 


68  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

Abram's  family  were  idolaters.  Legend  says  that  Terah, 
his  father,  was  a  maker  of  idols.  Abram  was  seventy  years 
old  when  he  heard  that  inward  Voice,  the  call  of  God,  com- 
manding him  to  leave  all  his  associates  and  associations, 
and  go  forth,  the  great  emigrant  of  antiquity.  His  first 
move  was  only  a  march  of  a  day  or  two,  from  Ur  to  Ha- 
ran,  which  lies  to  the  west  of  Ur.  For  five  years  he  dwelt 
there,  where  his  father  died.  Then  the  impulse  returned, 
which  was  to  him  as  a  voice  of  God  calling  him  a  second 
time;  and  he  set  his  face  westward.  Is  it  not  remarkable 
that  since  the  great  incursions  from  the  North  to  the 
South  in  Asia  and  Europe,  emigration  has  been  from  the 
East  toward  the  West — never  from  the  West  toward  the 
East,  as  if  men  followed  the  sun — as  if  they  sought  to  see 
what  fields  he  saw  in  his  constant  circuits  ? 

Abram  passed  the  Euphrates.  The  ford  probably  re- 
mains where  this  patriarch  describes  it  as  being.  It  is 
probable  that  his  journey  took  him  not  far  from  Damascus, 
and  thence  southward  until  he  reached  the  river  Jabbok, 
along  which  his  grandson,  Jacob,  found  his  path  on  his 
return  from  the  same  region  in  Padan-Aram. 

What  this  ''  call  "  was  that  Abram  heard,  no  man  can  now 
define.  The  impulse,  we  cannot  doubt,  was  a  high  and 
sacred  one  ;  but  it  was  the  impulse  of  an  emigrant — not 
that  of  a  conqueror  who,  with  a  sense  of  ambition  and 
conscious  power,  went  forth  to  subdue  new  territories. 
He  went  out,  with  his  small  band,  as  an  emigrant,  with 
the  promise  that  he  should  have  a  great  posterity.  It  lay 
in  the  future.  Compare  the  feelings  of  this  great  original 
patriarch  in  going  forth  from  Mesopotamia  with  the  feel- 
ings with  which  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  have  left 
their  homes  in  days  since — the  Pilgrims  that  left  England, 
and  came,  over  the  stormy  sea,  and  landed  on  the  shores  of 
New  England  ;  those  emigrants  that,  dropping  further 
down,  early  made  their  home  in  Virginia  ;  those  other 
emigrants  that  streamed  out  from  the  Eastern  states  and 
found  the  great  basin  of  the  Ohio,  the  plains  of  the  Rocky 
and  Sierra  Nevada  mountains,  and  California  itself;  and 


ABRAHAM.  5q 

the  stream  that  has  never  ceased  to  flow,  simply  with  the 
latent  hope  of  bettering  their  condition,  without  half  the 
conviction  that  belonged  to  Abram — of  a  call  from  God  and 
the  divine  assurance  that  he  should  be  the  founder  of  a 
great  nation  in  which  all  the  earth  should  be  blessed. 
Nevertheless,  these  emigrants  go  on  laying  foundations 
suffering  hardship,  accumulating  treasure,  and  establishing 
institutions,  whose  full  benefit  will  be  known  only  to  their 
children  or  to  their  children's  children. 

Whether  in  the  dreams  of  sleep,  whether  in  some  appear- 
ance to  the  senses,  or  whether  under  the  influence  of  vivid 
imagination  so  strong  that  his  subjective  state  became 
objective — whether  in  one  or  other  of  these  ways  this  call 
of  God  was  made  to  Abram,  we  are  not  now  to  determine. 
All  we  know  is  that  we  are  to  suppose  not  that  God  spoke 
in  an  audible  voice  out  of  the  heavens  to  him,  but  only  that 
Abram  received  spiritual  impulse,  knowledge,  and  strength, 
which  set  him  upon  his  journey.  He  was  the  father  of 
emigrants. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  trace  the  route  which  he  pursued, 
because  it  was  the  route  of  the  great  caravans.  There 
were  but  few  routes  of  travel  at  that  time.  The  East  is  not 
even  now  diversified  with  highways.  Roads  are  almost 
unknown  there  ;  and  those  that  exist  are  for  the  most  part 
not  for  wheels  but  for  the  camel  and  the  ass.  Roads  for 
wagons  and  chariots  in  the  Orient  are  still  unknown  in  any 
such  sense  as  that  in  which  we  have  them  in  this  country. 

Entering  the  country  of  Canaan  not  far  below  the  issu- 
ing of  the  Jordan  into  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  Abram's  first 
point  of  rest  was  taken  under  a  tree.  He  spread  his 
tent — he  who,  except  in  Egypt,  never,  to  the  end  of  his 
life,  dwelt  under  a  roof.  There,  as  shepherd,  he  lived  for 
a  brief  period.  Then,  that  his  flocks  might  have  the  bene- 
fit of  larger  pasturage,  he  moved  south  to  Bethel.  After 
that,  still  going  south,  he  went  to  Mamre.  While  there 
famine  overtook  him,  and  he  descended  into  Egypt,  the 
great  granary  of  the  East.  How  long  he  dwelt  there  we 
cannot  ascertain  accurately.     That  he  remained  there  until 


;o  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

he  had  greatly  increased  his  household,  and  enlarged  his 
possessions  of  silver  and  gold  and  flocks,  we  are  definitely 
informed.  Here  occurred  one  of  those  episodes  which  are  a 
blemish  upon  his  memory — undoubtedly  a  blemish,  but  not 
such  a  blemish  as  criticism  in  modern  times  has  made  it  to 
be.  His  wife  was  his  sister  by  his  father,  but  not  by  the 
mother.  It  is  probable  that  she  was  more  nearly  in  the 
relation  of  what  we  call  a  niece  than  in  that  which  we 
esteem  as  a  sister.  At  any  rate,  she  seems  to  have  been 
beautiful  ;  and  in  going  down  to  Egypt,  fearing  that  the 
king  would  imprison  her  in  his  harem,  and  that  in  order  to 
possess  the  wife  he  would  slay  the  husband,  Abram  be- 
sought her  to  represent  that  she  was  his  sister  and  not 
his  wife,  thus  deceiving  the  king.  He  was  rebuked  after- 
wards when  on  the  king's  learning  the  truth  she  was  re- 
stored unharmed  to  him;  and  they  dwelt  peacefully  in 
Egypt. 

Years  afterwards,  Abram  returned  from  thence  to  Gerar 
in  the  southern  part  of  Palestine,  where  Abimelech  was 
still  king.  Strangely  enough,  to  those  who  read  with  criti- 
cism, precisely  the  same  story  is  told  of  Abram  and  his 
wife  in  relation  to  Abimelech, — as  though  he  twice  repre- 
sented that  she  was  his  sister  and  not  his  wife,  and  as 
though  the  second  time  she  was  restored  to  him  with  a 
rebuke.  Is  it  probable  that  this  thing  took  place  twice  ? 
No.  It  is  far  more  likely  that  two  different  documents, 
each  giving  this  account,  have  been  embraced  in  the  Mosaic 
history. 

We  find  substantially  the  same  literary  error  occurring 
in  the  New  Testament.  In  one  of  the  gospels  an  account 
is  given  of  a  visit  of  Christ  to  Nazareth,  as  though  it 
occurred  at  one  period  of  his  life,  and  in  another  it  is 
declared  that  he  visited  it  at  another  and  later  period  of 
his  life.  The  two  records  are  precisely  the  same.  Those 
who  advocate  the  verbal  and  literal  inspiration  declare 
that  there  was  no  mistake  in  the  reckoning — that  he  did  go 
twice  thus  to  Nazareth.  It  is  said  that  on  Sunday,  twice,  he 
went  into  the  Synagogue  ;  that  a  book  was  given  him  both 


ABRAHAM.  1^ 

times  •  that  he  opened  it  at  the  same  place  both  times,  and 
read  the  same  Scripture,  and  gave  the  same  interpretation  ; 
that  both  times  he  was  set  upon  and  dragged  out ;  that 
both  times  there  was  an  attempt  to  throw  him  down  a 
precipice  ;  and  that  both  times  he  escaped  out  of  then- 
hands  Thus  men  resort  to  inconsistencies  and  absurdi- 
ties instead  of  simply  saying  that  both  visits  were  one,  that 
one  Evangelist  who  gave  the  account  was  correct,  but  that 
the  other  was  mistaken  as  to  the  date. 

In    reo-ard  to    another  occurrence    in    Christ's    ministry 
there  is^'a  discrepancy-his  driving  out  from  the   Temple 
the  money  changers  and  those  that  sold  doves  and  beasts. 
One  of  the  Evangelists  puts  it  at    the   beginning   of    his 
ministry,  and  another  at  the  close.     Verbalists,  in  order  to 
save  themselves  from  saying  that  there  was  a  mistake  of 
date  in  either  narrative,  say  that  it  occurred  twice.     They 
tell  us  that  Christ  went  into  the  Temple  on  two  occasions 
and  said  the  same  thing  both   times,  and   drove   out  the 
same  men  that  sold  doves  and  animals,  and  the  same  money 
changers.     There  is  no  reason  why  men  should  sacrifice 
their  common  sense,  and  insist  upon  putting  the  Scripture 
to  a  rack  that  would  ruin  it  if  they  could  succeed  in  press- 
ing against  it  this   doctrine  of  verbal,  absolute,  literal  in- 
spiration. 

The  patriarch  returned  from  Gerar  to  Bethel.     It  was 
here  that  the  memorable  discussion  took  place  between  the 
herdsmen  of  Abram  and  the  herdsmen  of  Lot.     Lot  was 
Abram's  nephew.     They  appear  for  a  time  to  have  dwelt 
together  with  common  possessions  ;  but  in  consequence  of 
the  increase  of  the  amount  of  property  and  in  the  number 
of  herdsmen  and  servants  there  began  to  break  out  jeal- 
ousies and  contentions.     The  nobility  of  the  patriarch  is 
made  manifest  in  the  settlement  of  this  question.     It  might 
very  well  be  emploved  as  a  type  of  the  proper  settlement  of 
controversies  in  later  days  of  the  church.     He  says  to  Lot, 
-  The  country  is  before  you.     Make  your  choice.     If  you 
will   go  to  the  south  I  will  go  to  the  north  ;  or  if  you  will 
go  to  the' north  I  will  go  to  the  south.     Let  there  be   no 


72  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

contention  between  us.  Take  your  way  and  I  will  let  you 
alone,  and  I  will  take  my  way  and  be  let  alone."  So  Lot 
went  down  to  the  interior  of  the  luxuriant  plains  where 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  lay  ;  and  he  derived  the  natural  con- 
sequences— relaxation  and  corruption  ;  while  Abram  kept 
to  the  hills,  rude,  rugged,  harsh,  in  many  respects,  but  giv- 
ing vigor,  manhood,  simplicity,  and  virtue.  Abram  was 
evidently  a  broad-minded,  able  manager,  for  in  whatever 
place  he  sojourned  it  is  recorded  that  his  possessions  and 
his  household  increased. 

Not  far  from  the  time  of  this  division,  not  many  years 
after  it,  one  of  those  events  took  place  which  developed 
the  greatness  of  the  patriarch.  It  seems  that  there  had 
been,  from  the  east  and  the  northeast,  an  invasion  of  the 
great  king,  Chedorlaomer,  who  had  taken  possession  of  all 
the  cities  of  the  plain  and  the  country  far  around,  and 
taxed  them.  He  had  no  right  in  these  places  any  more 
than  England  has  in  India,  but  he  did  what  England  has 
done  ;  he  took  with  a  strong  hand  and  held  under  tribute 
nations  that  he  had  no  business  with.  It  is  recorded  that 
the  king  gathered  his  forces  and  swept  the  people  and 
their  possessions  away  with  him,  traveling  by  the  line  of 
the  Jordan  clear  up  toward  Damascus. 

Then  it  was  that  Abram  gathered  together  the  three 
hundred  servants  born  in  his  own  household,  with  such 
confederates  as  he  could,  and,  marching  day  and  night, 
surprised  the  king  and  his  forces,  routed  them,  followed 
them,  and  scattered  them  utterly,  bringing  back  the  herds 
and  the  captives,  and  restoring  them  to  their  homes. 

It  is  memorable  that  on  the  return  he  met  Melchizedek, 
King  of  Salem  ;  and  it  is  very  remarkable  that  this  priestly 
king,  so  far  as  can  be  gathered  from  the  original,  was  a 
worshiper,  not  of  Abram's  Elohim  or  Jehovah,  but  of 
another  God.  He  was  not  in  agreement  with  Abram  ;  but 
he  was  triih^  religious,  probably  a  worshiper  of  one  God, 
and  therefore,  under  whatever  name,  of  Abram's  God. 

When  this  king  offered,  if  Abram  would  restore  the 
captives,  to  give  him  the  goods,  the  old  chief   towered  too 


ABRAHAM.  73 

high  to  accept  anything  as  payment.  Said  he,  "  I  will  not 
take  anything  that  is  thine,  lest  thou  shouldst  say,  I  have 
made  Abram  rich."  So  he  took  nothing,  and  sent  all 
back  to  their  original  possessors. 

The  remaining  events  in  Abram's  history  are  few,  but 
of  transcendent  importance.  It  had  been  promised  to  him 
that  he  should  be  the  father  of  many  generations.  Yet  lie 
was  now  ninety  years  old,  and  no  child  had  been  born  to 
him.  Then  comes,  not  so  much  the  history  of  Abram,  as  the 
record  of  one  of  the  customs  of  the  country  and  the  race. 
By  his  wife's  wish  he  married,  in  a  secondary  way,  the 
bondwoman  Hagar ;  and  by  her  was  born  a  son,  Ishmael. 
The  history  of  Hagar  and  Ishmael,  if  it  has  not  given  rise 
to  a  great  deal  of  doctrine,  has  given  rise  to  a  great  deal 
of  art,  of  romance — for  it  is  a  romance  ;  and  the  pictorial 
story  in  the  old  Scripture  compares  favorably  with  the 
efforts  of  modern  art. 

But  Sarai,  the  wife,  after  she  had  arrived  at  an  extreme 
old  age,  gave  to  her  lord  and  master  a  direct  and  legitimate 
heir,  in  Isaac.  Then  broke  out  in  Abram's  peaceful  family 
jealousies  and  difficulties,  such  as  polygamy  always  entails, 
and  always  will  entail.  The  result  was,  as  might  be 
expected,  that  the  wife  was  mightier  than  the  husband, 
and  she  drove  forth  Hagar  and  her  child,  and  Abram's 
reputation  as  master  in  his  own  household  was  at  a  dis- 
count. In  reality,  Hagar  was  a  great  deal  better  off  in 
the  wilderness  with  her  son  than  she  would  have  been  in 
Abram's  tent  with  that  woman  to  despotize  over  her.  To 
go  forth  into  the  wilderness  in  that  day  Vv^as  not  so  hard  a 
thing.  She  went  forth  from  no  house,  from  no  luxuries, 
simply  from  a  tent.  She  went  forth  from  nothing  to 
nothing;  and  although  history  records  a  temporary  suffer- 
ing at  first,  it  also  records  relief  and  prosperity  almost 
immediately  ;  for  Ishmael  became  the  father  of  a  great 
nation. 

After  this  occurred  one  of  the  most  striking  events  in 
the  history  of  Abraham  (for  from  the  birth  of  his  son  he 
took  the  name  "Father  of  Multitudes").     He  was  moved 


74  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

by  the  voice  of  God  (whatever  that  voice  may  have  been  : 
whether  it  came  to  him  in  a  dream,  whether  it  was  a 
vision,  an  impression  received  by  him,  or  what  it  was,  I  do 
not  undertake  to  say)  to  follow  the  example  of  all  the 
nations  around  about  him  that  on  great  occasions  were 
offering  their  children  to  the  gods. 

We  have  a  half-instance  of  this  in  the  later  history  of 
Jephtha  and  his  daughter.  That  military  chieftain  dedi- 
cated to  sacrifice  the  thing  that  first  should  meet  him 
coming  out  from  his  house  on  his  return  from  battle,  if  he 
should  have  victory.  Under  memorable  circumstances 
parents  were  accustomed  to  dedicate  their  firstborn  to  the 
gods,  and  the  dedications  consisted  in  sacrifice. 

Such  was  the  impulse  that  was  brought  to  bear  upon 
Abraham.  He  had  received  the  promise  that  he  should  be 
the  father  of  many  generations  ;  but  the  fullfillment  of 
direct  posterity  was  delayed  until  he  was  a  very  old  man  ; 
when  Isaac  was  born  he  was  impelled  to  dedicate  him  to 
his  God,  and  w^hen  he  was  w^ell  grown — under  the  absolute 
paternal  right  of  life  and  death  in  the  household,  common 
to  the  time — to  consummate  the  dedication  by  final  sacri- 
fice. The  simple  narrative  of  how  Abraham  took  his 
son  and  laid  him  upon  the  altar  is  too  exquisite  to  be 
touched  with  the  finger  of  commentary.  I  think  there  is 
nothing  in  any  literature  comparable  to  the  father  and 
son  on  their  way  to  the  sacrifice.  Abraham  bound  Isaac 
on  the  altar,  and  stretched  forth  his  hand  to  slay  him, 
when  he  heard  a  Voice  calling  upon  him  to  forbear.  A 
ram  caught  in  the  thicket  was  offered  up  by  Abraham  in 
place  of  his  son.  The  faith  which,  it  is  said  in  the  New 
Testament,  led  Abraham  to  believe  that  God  was  able  to 
give  him  Isaac  back  from  the  dead,  reveals  the  feelings 
that  were  in  the  father's  mind.  He  was  under  the  impres- 
sion that  in  spite  of  the  promise  of  a  mxultitudinous 
posterity,  God  had  called  him  to  give  up  his  son  ;  and  his 
faith  in  God  was  such  that  he  implicitly  proceeded  to  obey. 

We  are  not  to  measure  this  by  the  light  of  our  moral 
sense.     A  man  who  in  our  day  should  thus  offer  a  son  for 


ABRAHAM.  yc 

sacrifice  would  be  denounced  by  multitudes  of  men  and 
legions  of  angels  ;  but  that  which  would  be  outrageous  if 
done  in  the  manhood  of  the  race  is  not  to  be  so  judged 
when  done  in  the  infancy  of  the  race  ;  and  it  was  certainly 
a  masterpiece  of  sincerity  in  Abraham  to  give  up  for  hi's 
religion  (that  was  the  amount  of  it),  for  his  faith  in  God, 
every  hope  that  had  cheered  him  in  his  long  pilgrimage, 
and  on  which  he  had  fed,  that  in  him  should  the  nations 
of  the  earth  be  blessed.  Since  the  blessing  was  to  come 
through  Isaac,  as  his  only  lineal  heir,  to  offer  Isaac  up  in 
sacrifice  was  to  blot  out  the  whole  prospect,  so  far  as  the 
power  of  Abraham  could  determine  cause  and  effect;  but 
he  did  not  draw  back  from  what  he  deemed  his  duty,  and 
it  was  a  remarkable  exhibition  of  faith  and  conscience. 

I  call  to  your  attention  the  account  of  the  death  of 
Sarah,  and  of  the  tomb  at  Machpelah.  I  will  read  it.  I 
do  not  know  where  you  will  find  anything  more  beautiful 
than  this  account  : — 

"  Sarah  was  one  hundred  and  seven  and  twenty  years  old :  these  were 
the  years  of  the  life  of  Sarah.  And  Sarah  died  in  Kirjath-arba ;  the  same 
is  Hebron  in  the  land  of  Canaan :  and  Abraham  came  to  mourn  for  Sarah, 
and  to  weep  for  her. 

"And  Abraham  stood  up  from  before  his  dead,  and  spake  unto  the  sons 
of  Heth,  saying,  I  am  a  stranger  and  a  sojourner  with  you :  give  me  a 
possession  of  a  burying-place  with  you,  that  I  may  bury  my  dead  out  of  my 
sight.  And  the  children  of  Heth  answered  Abraham,  saying  unto  him, 
Hear  us,  my  lord  :  thou  art  a  mighty  prince  among  us  :  in  the  choice  of 
our  sepulchers  bury  thy  dead  ;  none  of  us  shall  withhold  from  thee  his 
sepulcher,  but  that  thou  mayest  bury  thy  dead.  And  Abraham  stood  up, 
and  bowed  himself  to  the  people  of  the  land,  even  to  the  children  of  Heth. 
And  he  communed  with  them,  saying.  If  it  be  your  mind  that  I  should  bury 
my  dead  out  of  my  sight ;  hear  me,  and  entreat  for  me  to  Ephron  the  son 
of  Zohar,  that  he  may  give  me  the  cave  of  Machpelah  [the  double  cave], 
which  he  hath,  which  is  in  the  end  of  his  field;  for  as  much  money  as  it  is 
worth  he  shall  give  it  me  for  a  possession  of  a  burying  place  amongst  you. 

"And  Ephron  dwelt  among  the  children  of  Heth:  and  Ephron  the  Hittite 
answered  Abraham  in  the  audience  of  the  children  of  Heth,  even  of  all  that 
went  in  at  the  gate  of  his  city,  saying.  Nay,  my  lord,  hear  me :  the  field 
give  I  thee,  and  the  cave  that  is  therein,  I  give  it  thee ;  in  the  presence  of 
the  sons  of  my  people  give  I  it  thee  :  bury  thy  dead. 

"And  Abraham  bowed  down  himself  before  the  people  of  the  land.  And 
he  spake  unto  Ephron  in  the  audience  of  the  people  of  the  land,  saying, 


'jd  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

But  if  thou  wilt,  I  pray  thee,  hear  me :  I  will  give  thee  money  for  the  field  ; 
take  it  of  me,  and  I  will  bury  my  dead  there." 

He  could  not  bury  his  dead  in  another  man's  ground, 
even  though  it  were  generously  given  him  ;  he  insisted  on 
paying  for  it.  And,  with  a  delicacy  equal  to  his  generosity, 
Ephron  fixed  a  price  and  received  it  from  the  lordly  chief- 
tain. So  Abraham  came  into  possession  of  this  cave  ;  and 
I  presume  that  his  dust  and  the  dust  of  Sarah,  of  Isaac,  and 
of  Jacob  lie  in  that  very  same  place  to  this  day.  Over  it  has 
been  built  a  temple  of  reverence,  and  the  Gentile  is  not 
allowed  to  enter  there.  •  Beneath  is  the  original  cave  ;  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  otherwise  than  that  the  bones 
of  the  three  patriarchs  and  their  families  3^et  lie  in  it. 

The  disposition  of  Abraham  not  to  mingle  himself  with 
the  inhabitants  of  the  lands,  not  to  take  on  their  customs, 
not  to  dwell  in  their  cities,  not  to  adopt  their  languages, 
not  even  to  bury  his  dead  in  the  sepulchers  where  their 
dead  were  buried,  but  to  maintain  separateness  of  organi- 
zation and  life — this  disposition  falls  in  with  the  whole 
thought  and  aspiration  of  his  life,  to  be  the  founder  of  a 
new  and  multitudinous  family. 

There  is  one  more  history  that  I  shall  allude  to,  and 
that  I  will  not  defile  with  criticism  nor  with  commentary. 
It  is  a  history  such  that  I  do  not  see  how  any  man  who  has 
read  it  can  wish  to  tear  it  to  pieces.  It  is  the  pleading  of 
Abraham  with  the  angel  of  the  Lord  when  the  destruction 
of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  was  determined  upon. 

I  will  not  occupy  the  time  by  reading  the  account,  but 
will  beg  you  to  read  it  as  the  representation  of  a  great 
soul  pleading  for  others,  in  that  remote  period  when  dis- 
interested benevolence  was  not  known,  as  a  term,  nor  as  a 
fact  except  to  pre-eminent  natures. 

If  by  any  this  mode  of  looking  at  early  history  in  the 
light  of  modern  ideas  be  accounted  unnatural  and  not  use- 
ful, I  reply  that  it  is  useful  in  the  sense  in  which  the  Ten 
Commandments  are  useful  ;  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
Beatitudes  of  Christ  are  useful  ;  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
example  of  the  sinless  One  is  useful  ;   in  the  sense  in  which 


ABRAHAM.  jy 


the  precepts  of  the  New  Testament  are  useful     The  histo- 
ries in  the  Old  Testament  of    the  earUer   periods  of  the 
world  may  not  be  thought  to  be  authoritative  ;  but  if  an)- 
man  is  disposed  to  reject  them  as  not  useful  on  the  ground 
of  their  particular  nature,  of  their  special  method,  or  of  the 
literary  elements  in  them,  I  beg  him   to  pause   and  recon- 
sider the  matter.     There  is  not  in  the  history  of  any  nation 
anything  more  charming  in  its  simplicity  than  the  history 
of  the  early  periods  of  the  human  race  as  given  in  the  Old 
Testament.     If  there  is  anything  in   the  history  of  Abra- 
ham that  seems  to  butt  against  your  views  of  science  and 
philosophy  as   to  what  a  divinely  inspired   record  should 
be,   I  wish  you  would   read  the  absurd   Arabian  legends, 
the   fantastic  stories   told    by   the    Mohammedans   in    the 
Koran  and  in  their  literature,  and  see  the  wide  difference. 
If  you  would  see  what  the  human  element   really  was  in 
the  history  of  antiquity,  go  back  to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures 
and  you  will  find  it.     Of  course,  when  you  go  back  to  these 
Scriptures  you  will  find  a  vast  difference   between  simplic- 
ity, truthfulness,  and  righteousness  as  measured  by  modern 
rules  and  judgments,  and  those  same  qualities  as  measured 
by  the  standards  of  Old  Testament  periods.     These  stories 
are  marvelous  to  us  ;  it  is  difficult  for  us   to  comprehend 
how  such  things  as  occurred  in  those  times  were  tolerated 
by  good   men  ;    but  if  we  could   see  the  circumstances  m 
which  they  originated,  if  we  could  go  back  to  the  literal 
facts  we  should  look  upon  them  more   leniently  than  now 
we    are  disposed  to  do  ;    while  the  very  honesty   of    the 
stories  is  proof  of  their  truth  and  trustworthmess. 

Take  into  consideration  the  career  of  the  great  founder 
of  the  Israelitish  people,  and  for  that  matter  of  the  Chris- 
tian church-for  the  Christian  church  is  but  the  outcome, 
the  fruit  of  that  people  :  they  both  had  the  same  lite.  Does 
it  seem  to  you  that  this  man  of  God  could  not  fitly  be  the 
leader  of  that  people  ?  Do  you  say  that  he  was  a  slave- 
holder, that  he  was  a  polygamist,  and  that  he  was  at  times 
given  over  to  deceit  ?  These  things  were  not  the  same  in 
that  age  that  they  are  now. 


78  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

Slavery  then  was  not  a  curse  but  a  blessing.  It  was  not 
a  degradation  to  be  gathered  into  a  household,  as  slaves 
were  at  the  beginning,  to  be  treated  with  kindness,  to  be 
instructed,  and  to  receive  whatever  advantages  were 
accorded  to  the  children  of  the  family  themselves.  There 
was  a  great  difference  between  Hebrew  slavery  and  Roman 
slavery.  Hebrew  slavery  invariably  accounted  a  slave  to 
be  a  man,  not  only,  but  as  being  in  near  connection  with 
his  master,  and  as  inheriting  or  having  a  right  to  all  the 
amenities  of  the  family.  Roman  slavery  began  by  dis- 
possessing a  man  of  manhood,  and  making  him  a  chattel, 
classing  him  with  furniture  and  horses  and  mules,  and 
allowing  him  no  rights.  Under  the  Roman  law  the  slave 
had  no  rights  ;  but  under  the  Hebrew  law  he  had  all 
rights — that  is  to  say,  his  servitude  was  very  little  more 
than  that  of  a  hired  servant.  At  a  later  period  the  privi- 
lege of  emancipation  was  given  to  him. 

In  the  early  periods  of  the  race,  when  there  was  no  dis- 
tinction made  between  a  person  and  property  ;  when  a  man 
bought  his  wife  as  much  as  he  did  his  cow  ;  when  his  chil- 
dren were  salable  ;  when  the  doctrine  of  personal  rights 
had  not  been  unfolded,  or  had  been  defined  but  to  a  limited 
degree  ;  when  the  differentiation  of  society  had  not  taken 
place,  the  old  patriarch  held  slaves  without  guiltiness. 
But  this  is  not  justification  of  the  modern  slaveholder, 
slavery  in  the  early  ages  and  slavery  now  not  being  by  any 
means  the  same  thing. 

Do  you  object  to  this  founder  of  the  Jewish  nation,  who 
was  a  polygamist,  being  held  up  as  a  pattern  and  exemplar 
of  virtue  ?  A  polygamist  in  these  days  is  certainly  not  to 
be  commended  ;  we  cannot  condemn  such  a  man  too 
severely  :  but  polygamy  was  a  custom  that  belonged  to 
the  nascent  race.  In  the  early  time,  when  men  were  not 
enough  advanced  socially  and  morally  to  discriminate 
between  right  and  wrong  courses,  it  was  tolerated  as 
faults  are  tolerated  in  children  until  they  are  old  enough  to 
correct  them  themselves. 

As   to   the  deception  of   Abraham,  I  do  not  wish  you   to 


ABRAHAM.  79 

make  it  any  less  than  it  was,  but  I  do  not  wish  you  to 
judge  him  as  you  would  a  man  that  would  tell  a  falsehood 
in  our  day.  You  will  bear  in  mind  that  the  animal  king- 
dom below  us  has  craft,  cunning,  as  an  instrument  of  self- 
protection  with  w^hich  to  meet  brute  force.  Savage  nations, 
a  little  above  the  animal,  retain  these  traits  (indeed,  we 
civilized  Christian  nations  have  not  altogether  outgrown 
them)  ;  and  Abraham,  though  he  stood  on  a  vastly  higher 
plane  in  most  respects,  believing  that  his  life  was  in  peril, 
to  save  himself  (not  from  any  mercenary  motive  or  motive 
of  pleasure)  resorted  to  deceit  and  falsehood.  Of  course 
the  great  patriarch  should  not  be  revered  for  that ;  but 
ought  w^e  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  him  with  the  same  se- 
verity that  we  should  upon  a  man  who  did  the  same  thing 
in  this  age  of  the  world  ? 

How  is  it  to-day  with  war  ?  Is  it  not  full  of  organized 
deceit  w^hich  everybody  justifies  ?  Is  it  not  thought  to  be 
right  to  lie  to  the  enemy  because  he  is  an  enemy  ?  Is  not 
war  an  organized  lie  ?  How  is  it  with  diplomacy  ?  Does 
it  not  abound  with  falsifications,  with  promises  made  to  be 
broken,  w4th  falsehoods  organized  into  custom  and  method  ? 
How  is  it  with  commerce  ?  Look  at  the  rivalries,  the  secre- 
cies, the  misdirections,  that  exist  between  those  wdio  aie 
antagonists  or  competitors  in  business.  How  is  it  in  states- 
manship and  politics  ?  Is  falsehood  unknown  there  ?  How 
is  it  even  with  newspapers  ?  Is  straightforwardness  highly 
developed  among  them  ?  Do  they  altogether  account  it  to 
be  a  fatal  wrong  for  them  to  stand  up  for  their  party  by 
exaggeration  and  misrepresentation  ?  Is  it  not  true  that  in 
many  departments  of  human  society,  nowadays,  men  for 
the  sake  of  self-interest  justify  themselves  in  the  practice 
of  deceit  ?  And  is  it  right  for  these  same  men  in  the 
sanctuary  and  elsew^here  to  condemn  Abraham,  because  to 
save  his  life  he  said  that  his  wife  was  his  sister  ?  He  did 
wrong  ;  such  falsifying  would  be  condemnable  at  this 
period  of  time  ;  but  at  that  remote  age,  when  the  race 
was  at  so  low  a  level  in  the  matter  of  education  and  devel- 
opment, his  offense  was  but  as  a   speck  on   his  garments, 


So  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

compared  with  evils  that  are  indulged  in  and  tolerated  in 
modern  Christian  society. 

What,  then,  is  the  reason  why  Abraham  has  been  so 
great  ?  One  conspicuous  reason  is  that  he  was  the  founder 
of  the  household,  and  not  of  a  kingdom.  He  was  a  father 
and  not  a  king — the  father  of  the  faithful — the  father  of  a 
multitude.  You  must  not  think  of  him  as  in  his  life  the 
ruler  of  a  great  nation.  He  was  great  in  that  the  house- 
hold was  his  sphere.  It  was  transmitted  from  son  to  son. 
It  went  down  to  the  nation  that  grew  up  after  them,  and 
from  that  day  to  this,  one  of  the  distinguishing  and  mag- 
nificent peculiarities  of  the  Israelitish  people  is  that  they 
have  maintained  the  household.  I  take  it  upon  me  to  say 
that  all  over  the  world  the  education  of  the  children  of  the 
household  is  nowhere  more  remarkable  and  admirable  than 
among  the  descendants  of  Abraham.  This  is  one  of  the 
strongest  points  of  their  history.  Their  family  love,  their 
fidelity  in  the  culture  of  their  children,  their  putting  these 
things  above  everything  else,  is  worthy  of  all  imitation. 
They  have  brought  down  from  Abraham,  through  all  the 
periods  of  history,  to  our  time,  the  example  of  the  family. 
To  them  we  are  indebted  for  much  of  the  dignity  and  the 
blessedness  of  the  monogamous  household.  And  you  will 
find  that  development  and  power  in  their  noblest  and  best 
forms  have  never  gone  aside  from  the  nations  in  which  the 
household  has  been  fostered  and  honored.  Civilization  in 
its  highest  types  will  never  succeed  in  any  community 
where  the  ideal  of  the  household  is  lost  or  has  never  been 
possessed.  It  lies  at  the  root  of  every  rightly  conceived 
commonwealth,  and  is  its  foundation.  The  influence  of 
the  father  and  mother  on  the  children  and  the  influence  of 
the  children  on  the  father  and  mother  are  the  beginning 
of  prosperity  in  national  life.  Thus,  as  Abraham  was  the 
father  of  the  household  he  stands  high  in  dignity  and 
power. 

Not  only  has  Abraham  this  claim,  but  he  shows  essential 
dignity  and  magnanimity  of  character  in  his  transactions. 
The  course  he  pursued  with  Abimelech  was  such  as  to  call 


ABRAHAM.  8i 


forth  from  that  king  the  testimony,  "  I  perceive  that  God 
is  with  thee  ;"  and  any  man  whose  nature  is  so  large  that 
others,  looking  upon  him,  see  the  force  and  goodness  of  his 
being,  any  man  who,  in  the  eyes  of  those  around  about 
him,  is  walking  in  the  spirit  and  in  the  communion  of  God, 
any  man  whose  portrait  is  universally  painted  as  that  of  a 
great  nature — any  such  man,  even  if  we  had  no  great  in- 
stances of  his  courage,  enterprise,  daring,  and  fair  dealing 
throughout  his  whole  history,  might  safely  be  presumed  to 
be  one  worthy  of  honor  and  of  reverence. 

Abraham's  personal  purity,  his  self-control,  and  his  emi- 
nent sense  of  justice  fitted  him  to  be  the  prototype  of 
a  great  nation.  His  faults  were  faults  even  in  the  age  in 
which  he  lived  ;  but  as  he  had  not  been  trained  to  higher 
things,  as  there  were  no  institutions  to  aid  him  in  over- 
coming them,  his  finding  his  own  way  out  of  them  in  a 
trackless  wilderness,  his  ability  to  conceive  and  choose  for 
his  own  the  idea  of  an  invisible,  supreme  God,  and  his 
establishing  himself  in  a  larger  and  truer  life  than  others 
lived  in  his  time,  mark  him  as  a  very  superior  nature. 

Lastly,  his  faith  in  God's  promise  that  he  should  possess 
the  land,  that  his  posterity  should  be  multitudinous— that 
faith  in  the  future  which  was  the  source  of  his  inward  life, 
and  which,  though  he  dwelt  in  a  tent,  and  was  a  stranger 
and  a  pilgrim,  led  him  to  look  forward  continually  to  a 
city  that  had  foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker  was 
God— that  faith  ought  to  be  an  encouragement  to  every 
soul  that  is  striving  to  rise  from  a  lower  plane  to  a  higher. 
It  is  this  which  gives  him  his  great  name,  "Father  of  the 
Faithful,"  and  which  has  made  him  known  even  to  this  day 
in  all  the  Orient  as  the  "  Friend  of  God." 

In  that  far  away  period,  then,  stood  the  great  chief,  who 
had  all  the  while  thought  of  life,  who  founded  a  noble 
household,  and  who  established  in  the  family  an  economy 
of  consecrated  happiness.  He  lived,  according  to  the  day 
in  which  his  lot  was  cast,  not  only  a  notably  efficient  and 
successful  life,  but  a  higher  and  nobler  life  than  is  to  be 
found  in  any  of  his   contemporaries  ;  for  in  the  midst  ot 


82  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

idolatry,  of  gross  superstitions,  of  lust,  of  all  that  was  low 
and  debasing,  Abraham  cleansed  his  ways  from  whatever 
was  vile,  he  showed  himself  to  be  a  father  of  justice,  he 
was  faithful  to  his  children,  he  believed  in  one  God,  to  the 
end  of  his  life  he  was  witness  to  monotheism  as  distin- 
guished from  idol  worship  in  every  direction,  and  he  trans- 
mitted this  doctrine  to  his  sons,  and  through  them  to 
their  posterity,  as  they  have  given  it  to  the  whole  world — 
for  monotheism  is,  even  by  Moses,  its  teacher  and  the 
organizer  of  it  as  a  religion,  referred  back  to  the  great 
patriarch. 

There  is,  then,  abundant  evidence  in  the  inspired  record 
of  facts  which  justify  the  greatness  of  soul  that  has  been 
attributed  to  this  grand  man,  and  that  makes  him  a  most 
conspicuous  figure  on  the  horizon  of  antiquity.  We  may 
look  back  and  venerate  him  without  hesitation,  as  much  as 
they  do  w^ho  sprang  from  his  loins. 


V. 

ISAAC. 


•*  And  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him  the  same  night,  and  said,  I  am  the 
God  of  Abraham  thy  father:  fear  not,  for  I  am  with  thee,  and  will  bless 
thee,  and  multiply  thy  seed  for  my  servant  Abraham's  sake." — Gen.xxvi: 
24-  

I  AM  endeavoring,  in  the  Sunday-night  readings  which 
I  am  giving  from  the  Old  Testament,  not  alone  to  interest 
you  in  local  histories,  nor  alone  to  benefit  you  by  drawing 
lessons  from  special  passages,  but  so  to  present  the  subject 
matter  of  the  Old  Testament  as  to  give  you  a  more  en- 
lightened conception  of  the  sacred  writings,  and  ix  clearer 
and  better  view  of  the  doctrine  of  inspiration,  that  you  may 
enjoy  in  a  larger  degree  than  many  people  now  do  the  study 
of  the  Scriptures^ — particularly  of  the  primitive  Scriptures  ; 
for  we  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  between  the  beginning  and 
the  end  of  the  sacred  writings  there  stretches  a  period  of 
probably  some  four  thousand  years. 

In  the  purview  of  the  early  book,  the  book  of  beginnings, 
Genesis,  there  are  three  great  periods  of  time  :  first,  the 
vague,  remote,  and  indefinite  period  before  there  was  a 
history  or  a  record — the  prehistoric  period  ;  second,  the 
patriarchal  period,  w^hich  comes  within  the  nebulous 
border  of  the  historic  ;  and,  third,  the  period  of  organized 
society,  which  begins  with  the  life,  the  legislation,  and  the 
institutions  of  Moses.     Here  you  have  three  distinct  eras. 

The  first  deals  with  the  world  at  that  period  which 
stretches  away  back  to  the  beginnings  of  things  and  comes 
down  to  the  Flood,  and  a  little  after.     Of  that  great  period 


Sunday  evening,  November  24,  1878. 


84  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

there  is  very  little  known  ;  and  the  Word  of  God  does  not 
undertake  to  carry  the  torch  into  it  and  state  exactly  how 
things  were.  It  has,  however,  clustered  together  the  best 
thoughts,  the  best  histories,  the  best  views,  that  prevailed 
at  that  time,  and  transmitted  them  to  us,  that  we  may 
have  light  thrown  upon  the  state  of  the  human  mind  pre- 
ceding organization  and  modern  instruction.  Of  that 
great  nascent  period  of  the  human  family  before  there 
were  governments,  when  chiefs  and  their  tribes  represented 
all  there  was  of  order,  when  men  were  creeping  up  from 
the  low^est  forms  of  savagery  and  barbarism,  it  is  of  pro- 
found importance  to  know  something  of  what  was  the 
economy  of  providence  during  that  era,  and  what  were 
the  ideas  of  men  of  that  time  about  that  economy.  We  are 
told  by  scientists  of  our  day  that  there  has  been  a  great 
development  and  evolution  from  germinant  forms  of  the 
great  vegetable  kingdom  and  of  the  lower  animals  ;  and 
also  an  unfolding  of  growth  in  social,  moral,  and  spiritual 
elements  among  men  :  yet  we  are  surprised  to  find  de- 
scribed in  the  Old  Testament  a  long  period  in  regard  to 
which  precisely  this  state  of  facts  is  to  be  recognized. 

This  book  of  beginnings  tells  what  were  some  of  the 
nebulous,  shadowy,  imaginary,  fantastic  notions  which 
prevailed  at  that  time.  These  we  do  not  want  to  change 
by  putting  a  modern  interpretation  on  them  ;  we  want 
them  to  remain  just  as  they  are.  They,  are  the  infantine 
thoughts,  feelings,  and  ideas  of  men — not  ripe  ones  of  later 
days.  Men  are  attempting,  by  straining  their  catechisms, 
to  save  the  Book,  ignoring  the  fact  that  there  was  a  long 
space,  of  time  when  men  were  but  little  better  than 
savages,  and  that  the  Book  records  many  of  their  unintel- 
ligent notions. 

We  have  in  that  Book  the  beginnings  of  those  evolutions 
which  originate  in  a  low  state  of  mind  ;  and  we  ought  to 
take  it  as  it  is  ;  and  any  theory  that  does  not  take  it  so  is 
false  and  mischievous. 

When  you  come  down  to  the  period  of  the  patriarchs, 
you  will  find    there    ignorance,    superstition,   immorality, 


ISAAC.  85 

and  wickedness,  but  you  will  find  these  mingled  with 
heroic  traits  and  great  virtues,  though  without  symmetry 
and  proportion.  In  judging  of  this  period  you  must,  of 
course,  apply  the  higher  ethics  of  the  Gospel  to  every  fact 
and  phase  ;  that  is  to  say,  though  lying  may  not  have  been 
as  really  culpable  in  Abraham  as  it  would  have  been  in 
Paul,  although  it  may  have  been  more  excusable  at  the 
beginning  than  at  the  end  of  the  history  of  the  world,  as 
in  a  little  child  it  is  less  condemnable  than  in  a  man  fifty 
years  old,  nevertheless  it  is  lying  ;  and  while  the  Sacred 
Record  never  attempts  to  varnish  anything  that  the  utmost 
simplicity  records  of  infirmity,  fanaticism,  blundering,  or 
cruelty,  while  it  never  sets  over  against  these  things  any 
plea  of  abatement  or  any  w^ord  of  commiseration,  while  it 
gives  them  as  they  are,  it  is  our  wisdom  to  take  them  as 
they  are.     We  w^ant  to  know  how  men  lived  at  that  time. 

Under  the  false  notion  of  inspiration  it  has  been  under- 
taken to  represent  the  patriarchs  as  free  from  superstition, 
whereas  they  were  not  free  from  it.  It  is  supposed  that 
men  were  so  directly  under  the  guidance  of  God  that  they 
knew  clearly  what  was  right  and  duty;  but  the  facts  show 
that  they  did  not— that  there  was  no  such  guidance. 
There  is  no  question  that  there  were  men  who  took  dreams 
for  revelation;  there  is  no  doubt  that  men  thought  God 
spoke  to  them  when  it  was  nothing  but  their  imagination 
that  spoke  to  them— noble  and  inspiring  as  that  might  be; 
and  the  attempt  to  bolster  up  improbable  statements  by 
special  pleading  will  not  save  Sacred  Writ— nay,  will  damn 
it  in  the  end.  You  must  take  these  statements  just  as  they 
are,  and  simply  say,  "  Here,  in  the  unfolding  series  of 
human  experience,  men  came  to  a  point  where  they  did  not 
know  ;  and  they  were  mistaken  in  such  and  such  thmgs." 

The' very  evidence,  to  me,  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures,  is,  that  I  find  in  the  records  of  the 
early  days  what  we  ought  to  expect  in  those  days- 
infantine  knowledge  and  infantine  moral  strength  m  intan- 
tine  men,  and  a  simple  history  which  reflects  the  condition 
of   primitive   morality  as  consisting  of  imperfect  notions 


86  BWLE  STUDIES, 

grouped  under  religious  belief.  If,  in  writing  the  biog- 
raphy of  a  child,  I  should  put  into  that  child's  early  life 
mature  thoughts  that  would  have  been  impossible  to  him, 
I  should  make  him  monstrous  in  the  eyes  of  men — I 
should  destroy  the  simplicity  that  is  expected  in  childhood, 
and  make  a  little  monster  instead  of  a  little  man  ;  and  the 
attempt  to  substantiate  the  imperfect  and  erratic  notions 
of  antiquity  by  bringing  the  morality  of  our  day  to  bear 
upon  them,  to  subject  them  to  the  light  which  w^e  have 
gained,  to  strain  the  text  of  the  narrative  and  make  it  con- 
form to  facts  as  they  exist  five  thousand  years  later  than 
the  time  in  which  the  actors  lived — that  process,  through 
which  many  a  man  has  put  the  Scripture,  cannot  but 
have  the  effect  of  undermining  men's  confidence  in  it. 
Daniel  Webster  once  said  that  one  of  the  evidences  of 
Christianity  was  that  religion  had  survived  in  spite  of  the 
pulpit  ;  and  I  say.  One  of  the  evidences  of  inspiration  is 
that  the  Bible  has  lived  in  spite  of  the  treatment  it  has 
received  at  the  hands  of  its  friends. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  the  time  of  Abraham, 
religion,  in  the  modern  sense, — in  the  sense  in  which  we 
hold  it, — had  not  sprung  np.  A  definite  and  regulated 
system  of  moral  precepts  governing  the  disposition  and 
outward  life  was  absolutely  unknown,  except  such  as 
were  organized  by  various  Pagan  priesthoods.  When 
men  say  that  Adam  and  Eve  were  "created  perfect  human 
beings,"  it  is  supposed  that  they  were  like  human  beings 
who  should  be  perfect  in  the  light  of  the  experience  ot 
these  later  days.  It  has  been  the  notion  of  thousands  o/ 
men,  that  they  were  like  a  trunk  packed  with  goods  already 
made  up,  and  that  when  they  started  they  had  what  no  other 
human  beings  ever  possessed  except  by  gradual  unfolding 
through  ages — that  it  was  innate — that  in  infancy  they 
had  perfectness  as  an  element  instantaneously  conferred 
upon  them.  Any  such  notion  as  that  is  a  simple  myth. 
From  the  beginning  to  the  time  of  Abraham,  I  repeat, 
religion  in  any  modern  sense  had  not  sprung  up.  Religion' 
during  that  period  consisted  of  occasional,  vagrant  moral 


ISAAC,  87 

impulses.  There  was  the  original  thing  in  men,  but  this 
had  only  fitful  developments  here  and  there,  and  these 
developments  were  sometimes  right  and  sometimes  wrong. 

Next  came  the  patriarchal  period,  beginning  with  the 
high-minded  Abraham,  and  descending  to  his  children's 
days.  Religion  then  had  developed  so  that  it  had  a  much 
broader  current  and  a  far  deeper  channel  ;  and  yet,  even  as 
late  as  that,  religion  was  very  humanly  errant.  Among 
the  Chaldees  of  Abram's  kin  it  had  grown  into  a  S3'stem  of 
idolatry  and  priestcraft,  from  which  he  had  the  God-given 
impulse  to  break  away.  Even  morality  was  not  formulated 
except  in  a  few  directions.  How^  could  it  be,  when  society 
itself  was  not  born  ?  Can  you  formulate  morality  before 
commerce,  manufactures,  and  agriculture  come  in  to  define 
the  relations  of  citizens  one  to  another  ?  It  was  before  there 
were  any  conditions  such  as  we  understand  by  morality. 
There  was  no  regular  government  except  in  chiefs.  What 
are  called  ki?2gs,  in  connection  with  the  tribes  of  Canaan, 
and  certainly  in  connection  with  the  patriarchal  families, 
were  no  more  than  chief  shepherds.  There  was,  among  the 
people  w^ho  were  to  be  the  moral  teachers  of  the  world,  no 
government  with  regular  officers,  gradations,  implements, 
and  instruments.  There  were  no  institutions  of  any  kind. 
What  sort  of  institutions  can  you  have  where  the  whole  of 
a  tribe  live  in  tents,  feeding  their  flocks  from  pasture  to 
pasture,  and  have  no  abiding  place,  no  unfolding  sequences, 
no  laws  as  to  commerce,  no  officers  of  justice,  no  churches 
or  places  of  worship  ? 

Now  and  then  there  was  an  altar,  as  a  special  thing. 
Abraham  built  two  or  three,  and  Isaac  two  or  three  ;  but 
they  w^ere  not  permanent.  They  were  rude  appliances  on 
which  to  offer  particular  sacrifices.  In  those  times  men 
were  bare  of  everything  that  belongs  to  society  life  as  we 
understand  it.  Even  the  household  had  not  been  unfolded. 
Property  in  persons  was  yet  believed  in,  as  it  was  long 
afterwards.  The  wife  was  bought  and  the  children  were 
owned.  And  what  insanity  is  it  to  attempt  to  find  in  those 
infantine  conditions  the  type  and  pattern  of  modern  relig- 


88  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

ious  usages  and  beliefs  !  They  are  the  beginnings.  Gene- 
sis is  rightly  named.  Esteem  it  for  just  what  it  is — a  book 
which  records  the  beginnings — not  the  endings  nor  the 
intermediate  stages,  but  the  beginnings — with  their  rude- 
nesses, their  errors,  their  lies,  their  superstitions,  their 
crimes,  their  evils  of  every  kind.  Then  you  will  have 
something  of  great  value.  You  will  know  exactly  what 
mankind  were,  at  successive  steps.  Otherwise  you  will 
have  a  medley,  a  fantastic  mixture,  neither  old  nor  new, 
which,  whether  true  or  false,  right  or  wrong,  will  be  of  no 
earthly  use. 

The  patriarchs  are  not  to  be  set  up  as  our  models.  Not 
everything  that  they  did  was  right.  They  were  not  exem- 
plars for  us,  nor  w^ere  they  fit  to  be.  They  were  not  our 
teachers.  They  did  not  teach  anything.  Abraham  never 
spoke  a  word  that  anybody  remembered  for  instruction  or 
religious  knowledge.  He  was  as  dumb  as  Adam,  and 
Adam  was  as  dumb  as  silence  or  death  itself.  Genesis  is  a 
book  in  which  we  see  sprouts,  buds,  and  leaves,  and  here 
and  there  fruit,  but  small  and  immature. 

Isaac  was  the  son  born  to  Abraham  after  he  had  attained 
a  very  great  age.  It  is  recorded  of  those  that  lived  before 
the  Flood,  that  they  were  not  married,  usually,  until  they 
were  three  or  four  hundred  years  old.  There  be  some  who 
escape  the  difficulty,  by  saying  that  numbers  meant  differ- 
ently then  from  what  they  do  now  ;  there  be  others  who 
escape  it  by  saying  that  this  was  mere  surplusage,  arith- 
metic run  mad,  the  magnification  of  the  Oriental  mind  ; 
and  there  be  still  others,  who,  on  physiological  grounds, 
say  (arid  there  is  as  much  probability  in  that  direction  as 
in  any  other)  that  the  nascent  human  race  were  a  flabby 
product  that  did  not  live  as  much  in  a  hundred  years  as,  in 
the  developed  and  riper  state,  men  live  in  five  years,  and 
that  they  were  not  as  far  advanced  in  three  hundred  years 
as,  in  the  more  compact  and  vitalized,  nerve-grown  races 
of  modern  times,  men  are  at  twenty.  You  will  find,  if  you 
inform  yourselves  on  this  subject,  that  by  many  it  has  been 


ISAAC. 


89 


supposed  that  the  livers  of  the  far  remote  periods  were 
giants  either  in  imagination  or  reality,  but  that  they  did 
not  come  to  their  majority  and  maturity  until  they  had 
lived  two  or  three  hundred  years. 

Now,  in  some  line  of  these  reckonings  of  longevitv, 
Abraham  begat  Isaac  after  he  had  attained  to  an  extreme 
old  age  ;  and  when  it  was  announced  to  him  that  Sarah, 
his  wife,  should  bear  him  a  son,  it  seemed  simply  ridicu- 
lous, and  she,  hearing  it,  laughed  behind  the  door  ;  and 
when  the  son  was  born  she  laughed  again  ;  and  everybody 
has  laughed  ever  since,  so  to  speak,  at  the  fact.  So  Isaac, 
being  born,  was  called  Laughter  ;  he  grew  up  and  that  was 
his  name — Laughter  j  for  that  is  the  meaning  of  the  word 
Lsaac. 

Isaac  stands,  as  respects  the  other  two  patriarchs,  Abra- 
ham and  Jacob,  as  a  sweet  and  beautiful  valley  between 
two  hills.  He  was  not  the  equal  of  Abraham  in  dignity, — 
in  that  kind  of  wild  grandeur  that  the  old  patriarch  had, — 
nor  was  he  the  statesman  and  politician  that  Jacob  was. 
He  had  neither  the  enterprise  nor  the  amount  of  being  that 
Abraham  had  ;  for,  although  there  is  very  little  that  Abra- 
ham has  transmitted  to  us,  and  although  his  history  is 
vague,  we  see  that  wherever  he  went  everybody  stood  in 
aw^e  of  him,  and  we  inherit  his  one  great  idea.  He  was 
recognized  on  every  side,  by  his  dependents,  his  equals, 
and  his  superiors,  as  a  great  man.  He  had  an  immense 
quantity  of  being.  There  are  men  of  such  structure  of 
mind  that,  although  they  add  very  little  to  literature,  are 
felt  wherever  they  go,  and  Abraham  was  such  a  man.  He 
towered  up  by  reason  of  this  native  greatness.  But  Isaac 
was  of  a  milder  and  far  inferior  type.  Colorless,  he  was. 
He  was  peaceful,  pleasant,  harmless,  useful,  but  in  no  sense 
romantic.  There  was  not  one  thing  in  his  life  that  in  and 
of  itself  stirs  the  imagination.  There  was  not  a  phase  of 
his  character  the  contemplation  of  which  would  lead  one 
to  an  involuntary  exclamation  of  admiration.  There  was 
a  good  deal  about  him  that  would  tend  to  make  a  person 
feel  like  swearing— I  mean  ''swearing"  in  a  mere  inter- 


90  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

iectional  form,  not  profane  swearing.  His  mildness  and 
timidity  and  peace-loving  ways  ran  to  the  very  edge  of 
cowardice,  and  quite  over  the  border  of  honesty. 

We  hear  very  little  of  Isaac  until  he  is  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  years  of  age.  The  chronology  of  the  Old  Testament 
is  very  uncertain  and  variable.  There  is  no  absolutely 
accurate  date  as  to  the  birth  of  Isaac,  but  it  is  supposed, 
from  the  tenor  of  the  narrative,  that  he  was  about  twenty 
or  twenty-five  years  old  when  he  was  led  by  his  father  to 
the  summit  of  the  mountain  to  be  offered  up  a  sacrifice,  as 
Abraham  thought,  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  God.  The 
offering  up  of  children  was  a  common  practice,  growing 
out  of  superstition,  in  all  the  neighboring  nations,  and  in 
one  way  or  another  Abraham  was  made  to  believe  that  he 
was  called  of  God  to  offer  up  his  son  Isaac. 

Now,  a  young  man  twenty-five  years  old,  living  in  our 
time,  would  not  be  apt  to  make  a  long  journey  to  the  top  of 
a  mountain,  and  carry  wood  in  order  to  be  himself  sacri- 
ficed :  but  Isaac,  who  was  a  very  obedient  son,  did  ;  and  he 
was  bound  by  his  father,  and  laid  upon  the  pile,  and  was 
about  to  be  slaughtered  when  he  was  rescued  by  a  voice 
that  Abraham  thought  was  the  voice  of  a  superior  Being, 
and  saved  from  destruction. 

That  is  the  first  considerable  fact  that  appears  in  the  life 
of  this  patriarch  ;  and  although  it  represents  filial  obedi- 
ence on  the  part  of  Isaac,  and  his  great  confidence  in  his 
father  when  he  found  out  what  was  about  to  be  done,  it 
does  not  represent  what  we  should  call  Anglo-Saxon  pluck. 
I  do  not  think  my  father  ever  could  have  got  me  on  to  a 
woodpile  to  kill  me.  I  cannot  say  that  I  should  have  great 
admiration  for  anybody  that  would  submit  to  a  thing  like 
that. 

Passivity,  resignation — these  were  the  traits  that  per- 
vaded the  life  of  this  man.  His  brother  Ishmael  could  not 
have  been  dealt  with  so.  That  child,  born  to  Isaac's  father 
through  a  handmaid,  and  adopted  by  Sarah  until  Isaac  w^as 
born,  had  a  different  spirit.  Abraham  could  not  have  laid 
him  on  an  altar  to  sacrifice  him,  and  did  not  try. 


ISAAC. 


91 


Not  until  he  was  forty  years  old  was  Isaac  married — not 
until  his  mother's  death.  That  same  gentle,  meek,  yield- 
ing, complying  nature  that  he  had,  which  bound  him  to 
his  father's  wishes,  seems  also  to  have  clasped  him  around 
about  his  mother  ;  and  her  death,  although  it  is  alluded  to 
by  only  a  single  word,  throws  a  flood  of  light  upon  it. 

"  Isaac  brought  her  [the  one  to  whom  he  was  aljout  to  Ije  married]  into 
his  mother  Sarah's  tent,  and  took  Rebekah,  and  she  became  his  wife  ;  and 
he  loved  her  :  and  Isaac  was  comforted  after  his  mother's  death." 

So,  on  becoming  forty  years  old,  Isaac  was  married. 
Most  men,  under  such  circumstances,  would  have  selected 
whom  they  would  marry  ;  but  in  this  case  Isaac  was  true 
to  his  reputation,  and  his  father  picked  out  his  wife  for 
him.  I  will  read  the  history.  It  is  a  perfect  poem  of  the 
transaction,  and  it  gives  an  insight  into  the  'nternal 
economy  of  society  and  the  notions  of  men  at  that  time. 

* 

"Abraham  was  old,  and  well  stricken  in  age  :  and  the  Lord  had  blessed 
Abraham  in  all  things.  And  Abraham  said  unto  his  eldest  servant  of  his 
house  [it  was  supposed  to  be  Eliezer],  that  ruled  over  all  that  he  had,  Put, 
I  pray  thee,  thy  hand  under  my  thigh  [that  was  the  mode  of  ta^<ing  an 
oath,  and  is  yet  in  many  Oriental  countries]:  and  I  will  make  thee  swear 
by  the  Lord,  the  God  of  heaven,  and  the  God  of  the  earth,  that  thou  shalt 
not  take  a  wife  unto  my  son  of  the  daughters  of  the  Canaanites,  among 
whom  I  dwell." 

There  was  wisdom  in  that.  They  were  not  only  idolaters 
but  they  were  vile  and  corrupt.  They  were  the  torment 
and  the  contempt  of  the  Israelites  in  all  the  after  period  ; 
and  most  of  the  defections  into  idolatry  came  through  the 
solicitation  of  the  women  of  the  land  around  about. 
Abraham  discerned  that  through  such  stock  as  that  he 
could  not  bring  to  his  posterity  the  blessings  which  had 
been  promised  through  him,  and  in  which  he  firmly 
believed. 

"  But  thou  shalt  go  unto  my  country,  and  to  my  kindred,  and  take  a  wife 
unto  my  son  Isaac." 

He  was  to  go  back  to  Mesopotamia,  to  Haran,  to  the  old 
stock  out  of  which  Abraham  himself  came. 
"And  the  servant  said  unto  him,  Teradventure  the  woman  will  not  be 


92  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

willing  to  follow  me  unto  this  land  :    must  I  needs  bring  thy  son  again  unto 
i\i^  land  from  whence  thou  camest  ?  " 

Isaac  had  nothing  to  say  all  this  time. 

"And  Abraham  said  unto  him,  Beware  thou  that  thou  bring  not  my  son 
thither  again.  The  Lord  God  of  heaven,  which  took  me  from  my  father's 
house,  and  from  the  land  of  my  kindred,  and  which  spake  unto  me,  and  that 
sware  unto  me,  saying,  Unto  thy  seed  will  I  give  this  land  ;  he  shall  send 
his  angel  before  thee,  and  thou  shalt  take  a  wife  unto  my  son  from  thence. 
And  if  the  woman  will  not  be  willing  to  follow  thee,  then  thou  shalt  be  clear 
from  this  my  oath :  only  bring  not  my  son  thither  again.  And  the  servant 
put  his  hand  under  the  thigh  of  Abraham  his  master,  and  sware  to  him 
concerning  that  matter." 

Abraham's  God  was  the  God  of  heaven  and  earth. 
Eliezer's  God  was  the  God  of  his  master  ;  afterwards  the 
God  that  the  Israehtes  worshiped  was  the  God  of  Abraham 
and  Isaac  and  Jacob  ;  and  everybody's  God  ought  to  be 
"///<?  God  of  my  father  and  my  mothei'^     Eliezer  said  : — 

"  O  Lord  God  of  my  master  Abraham,  I  pray  thee,  send  me  good  speed 
this  day,  and  show  kindness  unto  my  master  Abraham." 

When  a  man  of  great  sagacity  lays  out  a  wise  plan  and 
then  prays  God  to  fulfill  it,  it  is  pretty  apt  to  come  to  pass. 
And  when  Eliezer  was  appointed  to  select  a  wife  for  Isaac, 
he  was  first  sagacious  and  then  devout.  He  desired  to 
select  one  that  was  generous,  that  was  serviceable,  that 
was  willing  to  work,  that  was  hospitable  and  pleasant ; 
and  so  he  thought  that  a  test  might  determine,  among  the 
women  that  should  go  out  at  eventide  to  draw  water,  who 
was  the  one  that  Isaac  ought  to  have.  He  would  have 
said,  of  course,  that  it  was  the  way  '^  pointed  out."  It  was 
pointed  out — through  the  common  sense  and  sagacity  of 
Eliezer.     He  prayed  : — 

"  Let  it  come  to  pass,  that  the  damsel  to  whom  I  shall  say,  Let  down 
thy  pitcher,  I  pray  thee,  that  I  may  drink;  and  she  shall  say,  Drink,  and  I 
will  give  thy  camels  drink  also :  let  the  same  be  she  that  thou  hast 
appointed  for  thy  servant  Isaac;  and  thereby  shall  I  know  that  thou  hast 
showed  kindness  unto  my  master.  And  it  came  to  pass,  before  he  had 
done  speaking,  that,  behold,  Rebekah  came  out,  who  was  born  to 
Bethuel,  son  of  Milcah,  the  wife  of  Nahor,  Abraham's  brother,  with  her 

pitcher  upon  her  shoulder And  she  went  down  to  the  well  and 

filled  her  pitcher,  and  came  up.     And  the  servant  ran  to  meet  her,  and  said, 


ISAAC.  93 

Let  me,  I  pray  thee,  drink  a  little  water  of  thy  pitcher.  And  she  said 
[looking  upon  him  and  his  caravan],  Drink,  my  lord:  and  sue  hasted 
and  let  down  her  pitcher  upon  her  hand,  and  gave  him  drink." 

Was  there,  probably,  ever  water  tliat  tasted  sweeter  ? 

"And  when  she  had  done  giving  him  drink,  she  said,  I  will  draw  water  for 
thy  camels  also,  until  they  have  done  drinking." 

Surely,  to  draw  all  the  water  that  ten  camels  who  had 
traveled  for  days  across  a  desert  wanted  to  drink  was  no 
small  token  of  this  woman's  energy  and  efficiency  ;  and  to 
do  it  under  the  circumstances  described  in  this  narrative 
bespoke  of  not  a  little  kind-heartedness. 

"And  she  hasted,  and  emptied  her  pitcher  into  the  trough,  and  ran  again 
unto  the  well  to  draw  water,  and  drew  for  all  his  camels.  And  the  man 
wondering  at  her  held  his  peace,  to  wit  whether  the  Lord  had  made  his 
journey  prosperous  or  not." 

The  damsel  was  beautiful,  and,  according  to  the  habit  of 
that  country,  accomplished.  She  could  not  play  the  guitar, 
nor  the  piano,  nor  do  we  know  that  she  could  embroider. 
We  do  not  know  whether  or  not  she  could  dance  ;  but  she 
could  work.  This  was  an  accomplishment  very  much  in 
vogue  at  that  time. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  as  the  camels  had  done  drinking,  that  the  man 
took  a  golden  earring  of  half  a  shekel  weight  [he  understood  woman 
nature],  and  two  bracelets  for  her  hands  of  ten  shekels  weight  of  gold  ;  and 
said,  Whose  daughter  art  thou."*  tell  me,  I  pray  thee:  is  there  room  in  thy 
father's  house  for  us  to  lodge  in .''  And  she  said  unto  him,  I  am  the 
daughter  of  Bethuel  the  son  of  Milcah,  which  she  bare  unto  Nahor.  She 
said  moreover  unto  him,  We  have  both  straw  and  provender  enough,  and 
room  to  lodge  in.  And  the  man  bowed  down  his  head,  and  worshiped  the 
Lord." 

Courting  by  proxy  had  thriven  very  well  thus  far. 

"And  he  said.  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  my  master  Abraham,  who 
hath  not  left  destitute  my  master  of  his  mercy  and  his  truth :  I  being  in 
the  way,  the  Lord  led  me  to  the  house  of  my  master's  brethren.  And  the 
damsel  ran,  and  told  them  of  her  mother's  house  these  things.  And 
Rebekah  had  a  brother,  and  his  name  was  Laban :  and  Laban  ran  out  unto 
the  man,  unto  the  well.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  he  saw  the  earring,  and 
bracelets  upon  his  sister's  hands,  and  when  he  heard  the  words  of  Rebekah 
his  sister,  saying.  Thus  spake  the  man  unto  me,  that  he  came  unto  the  man  ; 
and,  behold,  he  stood  by  the  camels  at  the  well.  And  he  said,  Come  in, 
thou  blessed  of  the  Lord." 


94  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

A  man  who  brings  gold  bracelets  and  earrings  is  not  to 
be  left  out  in  the  cold. 

*  Wherefore  standest  thou  without  ?  For  I  have  prepared  the  house, 
and  room  for  the  camels." 

Laban  had  an  e3'e  to  business  all  through  life. 

"And  the  man  came  into  the  house  :  and  he  ungirded  his  camels,  and 
gave  straw  and  provender  for  the  camels,  and  water  to  wash  his  feet,  and 
liie  men's  feet  that  were  with  him.  And  there  was  set  meat  before  him  to 
eat :  but  he  said,  I  will  not  eat,  until  I  have  told  mine  errand.  And  he 
said.  Speak  on. 

"And  he  said,  I  am  Abraham's  servant.  And  the  Lord  hath  blessed  my 
master  greatly  ;  and  he  is  become  great :  and  he  hath  given  him  flocks,  and 
herds,  and  silver,  and  gold,  and  menservants,  and  maidservants,  and 
camels,  and  asses.  And  Sarah  my  master's  wife  bare  a  son  to  my  master 
when  she  was  old :  and  unto  him  hath  he  given  all  that  he  hath.  And  my 
master  made  me  swear,  saying,  Thou  shalt  not  take  a  wife  to  my  son  of  the 
daughters  of  the  Canaanites,  in  whose  land  I  dwell  :  But  thou  shalt  go  unto 
my  father's  house,  and  to  my  kindred,  and  take  a  wife  unto  my  son.  And 
I  said  unto  my  master,  Peradventure  the  woman  will  not  follow  me.  And 
he  said  unto  me.  The  Lord,  before  whom  I  walk,  will  send  his  angel  with 
thee,  and  prosper  thy  way;  and  thou  shalt  take  a  wife  for  my  son  of  my 
kindred,  and  of  my  father's  house.  Then  shalt  thou  be  clear  from  this  my 
oath,  when  thou  comest  to  my  kindred  ;  and  if  they  give  not  thee  one,  thou 
shalt  be  clear  from  my  oath.     And  I  came  this  day  unto  the  well,  and  said, 

0  Lord  God  of  my  master  Abraham,  if  now  thou  do  prosper  my  way  which 

1  go  :  Behold,  I  stand  by  the  well  of  water  ;  and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that 
when  the  virgin  cometh  forth  to  draw  water,  and  I  say  to  her.  Give  me,  I 
pray  thee,  a  little  water  of  thy  pitcher  to  drink;  and  she  say  to  me,  Both 
drink  thou,  and  I  will  also  draw  for  thy  camels  :  let  the  same  be  the  woman 
whom  the  Lord  hath  appointed  out  for  my  master's  son.  And  before  I  had 
done  speaking  in  mine  heart,  behold,  Rebekah  came  forth  with  her  pitcher 
on  her  shoulder;  and  she  went  down  unto  the  well,  and  drew  water  :  and  I 
said  unto  her.  Let  me  drink,  I  pray  thee.  And  she  made  haste,  and  let 
down  her  pitcher  from  her  shoulder,  and  said.  Drink,  and  I  will  give  thy 
camels  drink  also  :  so  I  drank,  and  she  made  the  camels  drink  also.  And 
I  asked  her,  and  said.  Whose  daughter  art  thou  ?  And  she  said.  The 
daughter  of  Bethuel,  Nahor's  son,  whom  Milcah  bare  unto  him  :  and  I  put 
the  earring  upon  her  face,,  and  the  bracelets  upon  her  hands.  And  I 
bowed  down  my  head,  and  worshiped  the  Lord,  and  blessed  the  Lord 
God  of  my  master  Abraham,  which  had  led  me  in  the  right  way  to  take  my 
master's  brother's  daughter  unto  his  son.  And  now,  if  ye  will  deal  kindly 
and  truly  with  my  master,  tell  me  :  and  if  not,  tell  me  ;  that  I  may  turn  to- 
the  right  hand,  or  to  the  left. 

"  Then  Laban  and  Bethuel  answered  and  said,  The  thing  proceedeth  from 


ISAAC.  95 

the  Lord  :  we  cannot  speak  unto  thee  bad  or  good.  Behold  Rebekah  is 
before  thee  ;  take  her,  and  go,  and  let  her  be  thy  master's  son's  wife,  as  the 
Lord  hath  spoken. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  that,  when  x\braham's  servant  heard  their  words, 
he  worshiped  the  Lord,  bowing  himself  to  the  earth." 

Now,  if  this  had  been  the  man  himself,  Isaac,  I  should 
not  have  wondered  ;  for  a  true  man,  who  finds  a  woman 
he  sincerely  loves,  and  sees  in  her  a  return  of  admiration 
and  of  love,  ought  to  be  lifted  into  the  highest  realm  of 
solemnity ;  and  a  deep,  pure,  and  true  love  is  always 
humble  ;  and  the  man  under  such  circumstances  must  say. 
Why  should  I  be  loved  ?  Why  should  such  a  one  as  she 
love  such  a  one  as  I  ?  But  Eliezer  felt  it  for  his  master. 
Poor  Isaac  ! 

"  And  the  servant  brought  forth  jewels  of  silver,  and  jewels  of  gold, 
and  raiment,  and  gave  them  to  Rebekah:  he  gave  also  to  her  brother  and 
to  her  mother  precious  things." 

Courting  their  daughter,  and  courting  her  mother 

"  And  they  did  eat  and  drink,  he  and  the  men  that  were  with  him,  and 
tarried  all  night;  and  they  rose  up  in  the  morning,  and  he  said,  Send  me 
away  unto  my  master.  And  her  brother  and  her  mother  said,  Let  the 
damsel  abide  with  us  a  few  days,  at  the  least  ten;  after  that  she  shall  go. 
And  he  said  unto  them,  Hinder  me  not,  seeing  the  Lord  hath  prospered 
my  way;  send  me  away  that  I  may  go  to  my  master.  And  they  said. 
We  will  call  the  damsel  and  inquire  at  her  mouth." 

However  dear  the  life  of  home  may  be,  when  once  a 
woman  has  given  her  trust  and  her  love,  her  home  there- 
after is  where  her  heart  is.  And,  according  to  the  fashion 
of  her  day;  this  young  woman's  heart  already  went  out  to 
her  appointed  mate. 

"And  they  called  Rebekah,  and  said  unto  her,  Wilt  thou  go  with  this 
man  ?  And  she  said,  I  will  go.  And  they  sent  away  Rebekah  their  sister 
and  her  nurse,  and  Abraham's  servant,  and  his  men.  And  they  blessed 
Rebekah,  and  said  unto  her,  Thou  art  our  sister,  be  thou  the  mother  of 
thousands  of  millions,  and  let  thy  seed  possess  the  gate  of  those  which 
hate  them." 

Two  great  blessings  that  belonged  to  the  idea  and 
imagination  of  that  age  !  Let  her  have  a  great  family  of 
children,  and  may  they  have  power  over  their  enemies. 


96  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

"And  Rebekah  arose,  and  her  damsels,  and  they  rode  uj^on  tlie  camels, 
and  followed  the  man  :  and  the  servant  took  Rebekah,  and  went  his  way. 

"And  Isaac  [who  all  this  time  had  been  at  home  waiting]  came  from  the 
way  of  the  well  Lahai-roi ;  for  he  dwelt  in  the  south  country.  And  Isaac 
went  out  to  meditate  in  the  field  at  the  eventide  :  and  he  lifted  up  his  eyes, 
and  saw,  and,  behold,  the  camels  were  coming.  And  Rebekah  lifted  up 
her  eyes,  and  when  she  saw  Isaac  she  lighted  off  the  camel.  For  she  had 
said  unto  the  servant,  What  man  is  this  that  walketh  in  the  field  to  meet 
us?  And  the  servant  had  said,  It  is  my  master:  therefore  she  took  a  veil, 
and  covered  herself.  And  the  servant  told  Isaac  all  things  that  he  had 
done. 

"And  Isaac  brought  her  into  his  mother  Sarah's  tent,  and  took  Rebekah, 
and  she  became  his  wife  ;  and  he  loved  her :  and  Isaac  was  comforted 
after  his  mother's  death." 

The  void  was  filled. 

If  you  can  find  anything  better  than  that,  I  should  like 
to  be  permitted  to  divide  the  secret  with  you.  Was  there 
ever  anything  more  exquisitely  simple?  Did  you  ever 
come  across  anything  more  in  accordance  with  the  in- 
stincts of  unperverted  human  nature?  It  is  a  pastoral 
poem,  while  it  has  the  structure,  the  firm  foundation,  at 
least  in  part,  of  a  history. 

Isaac  lived,  as  his  father  Abraham  had,  for  a  long  period. 
At  last  twins  were  born  to  him — Esau  and  Jacob.  Esau 
was  the  firstborn,  and  Jacob  the  second.  Esau  was  there- 
fore entitled  to  all  the  advantages  conferred  by  the  laws 
of  primogeniture  in  vogue  in  that  desert  land  ;  and  next 
Sunday  night  I  shall  discuss  the  character  of  Jacob,  and 
shall  have  occasion  to  show  some  of  the  facts  in  respect  to 
these  two  brothers. 

I  can  only  add  a  few  words  in  closing,  with  regard  to  the 
history  of  Isaac.  The  greatest  memorial  of  his  life  was 
the  many  wells  that  he  digged.  Some  men  build  hospitals 
by  way  of  handing  their  names  down  to  posterity  ;  some 
erect  churches  ;  some  establish  institutions  of  civic  econ- 
omy ;  but  in  ancient  days,  and  especially  in  pastoral  coun- 
tries where  yet  there  were  long,  cloudless,  dry  seasons,  he 
that  dug  a  well  was  considered  to  have  done  a  great  public 
service.  Down  through  the  limestone  rocks  some  wells 
were  made  with  a  spiral  path  around  the  sides,  by  which 


ISAAC.  97 

one  could  descend  to  the  bottom  and  procure  water ;  and 
there  were  other  wells,  from  which  water  was  drawn  up  by 
a  rope.  It  was  no  small  achievement  and  at  no  small 
expense  of  time  and  labor  ;  so  that  to  have  dug  a  well  was 
almost  to  have  the  title  of  a  prince. 

Isaac  dug  one  well,  and  the  servants  of  Abimelech  drove 
his  people  from  it.  Abraham  would  have  stood  his  ground 
and  kept  it,  but  Isaac  gave  it  up.  He  dug  another,  and 
his  herdsmen  strove  with  the  herdsmen  of  the  king  of 
Gerar  ;  but  Isaac  loved  peace,  and  gave  up  that  well.  He 
dug  a  third,  and  I  think  that  third — either  the  third  or  the 
fourth — he  was  permitted  to  hold.  As  it  was  dug  so  far 
away  from  the  herdsmen  of  the  king  that  it  was  beyond 
their  interference,  he  called  it  Rehoboth  {Broad-place),  say- 
ing, "For  now  the  Lord  hath  made  room  for  us." 

Then  took  place  his  nefarious,  or  what  is  alleged  to  have 
been  his  nefarious,  intercourse  with  King  Abimelech.  It  is 
the  Abrahamic  legend  over  again  :  famine,  refuge  in  a 
richer  country,  telling  the  king  that  his  wife  was  his  sister 
(lest  he  should  be  killed  for  her  possession),  and  reproof  of 
the  lie  by  the  nobler-minded  king. 

When  Isaac  became  very  old,  and  was  about  to  die,  there 
occurred  that  scene  of  perfidy  and  craft  which  throws  the 
light  of  interpretation  somewhat  upon  Rebekah.  I  need 
not  say  that  the  woman  who  was  courted  at  the  well,  who 
took  the  rings  and  bracelets,  who  went  home,  and,  facing 
her  parents,  told  them  just  what  had  happened,  who 
accepted  a  suitor  that  was  five  hundred  miles  off,  and  who, 
when  appealed  to  as  to  whether  she  would  stay  a  few  days 
or  go  immediately,  said,  "I  will  go  "—  I  need  not  say  that 
she  was  not  a  woman  that  would  be  very  severely  gov- 
erned by  the  mild,  sweet-tempered  Isaac.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  there  was  government  in  that  family,  but  I  do  not 
think  Isaac  maintained  it ! 

Well,  when  he  was  old,  and  could  no  longer  see,  and 

felt  that  his  death  was  approaching,  Isaac,  according  to  the 

custom  and  manner  of  the  country,  wished  to  bestow  his 

blessing,  and  all  the  authority  that  went  with  it,  upon  his 

7 


98  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

firstborn.  Desert  chiefs,  like  later  monarchs,  had  abso- 
lute power,  and  could  nominate  their  successors  :  David, 
for  instance,  nominated  Solomon  ;  the  king  transmits  his 
government  and  authority  to  his  first  son,  or  to  his  favorite 
descendant  ;  thus  the  ascendency  of  a  tribe  is  prolonged  : 
and  Isaac  was  to  give  over  his  chieftainship. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  Isaac  was  old,  and  his  eyes  were  dim,  so 
that  he  could  not  see,  he  called  Esau  his  eldest  son,  and  said  unto  him.  My 
son:  and  he  said  unto  him,  Behold,  here  am  I.  And  he  said,  Behold,  now 
I  am  old,  I  know  not  the  day  of  my  death  :  Now  therefore  take,  I  pray 
thee,  thy  weapons,  thy  quiver  and  thy  bow,  and  go  out  to  the  field,  and 
take  me  some  venison ;  and  make  me  savory  meat,  such  as  I  love,  and 
bring  it  to  me,  that  I  may  eat;  that  my  soul  may  bless  thee  before  I  die. 
And  Rebekah  heard  when  Isaac  spake  to  Esau  his  son.  And  Esau  went 
to  the  field  to  hunt  for  venison,  and  to  bring  it." 

The  law  of  counterparts  was  in  force  then,  as  it  is  now. 
We  love  that  which  we  do  not  have  but  which  others  do 
have,  and  w^hich  makes  up  and  completes  us.  A  strong, 
vigorous  man  likes  a  sweet,  delicate,  twining  woman  for 
his  wife.  A  vigorous,  strong,  manly  woman  likes  a  quiet, 
peaceful,  unobtrusive  man  for  her  husband.  And  Esau, 
who  was  a  bold  and  dashing  fellow,  won  the  gentle  heart 
of  his  father  Isaac.  Jacob  w^as  politic,  shrewd,  keen  ;  and 
his  mother,  who  was  of  an  imperious  nature,  liked  these 
traits  in  him.  So  the  father  loved  Esau,  and  the  mother 
loved  Jacob.  The}^  indulged  in  favoritism,  which  is  enough 
to  destroy  any  family — to  breed  hatred  even  between  twin 
brothers  as  these  were. 

"And  Rebekah  spake  unto  Jacob  her  son,  saying.  Behold,  I  heard  thy 
father  speak  unto  Esau  thy  brother,  saying.  Bring  me  venison,  and  make 
me  savory  meat,  that  I  may  eat,  and  bless  thee  before  the  Lord  before  my 
death.  "Now  therefore,  my  son,  obey  my  voice  according  to  that  which  I 
command  thee.  Go  now  to  the  flock,  and  fetch  me  from  thence  two  good 
kids  of  the  goats  ;  and  I  will  make  them  savory  meat  for  thy  father,  such  as 
he  loveth  :  And  thou  shalt  bring  it  to  thy  father,  that  he  may  eat,  and 
that  he  may  bless  thee  before  his  death. ' 

Now  a  stanch,  honest  man  w^ould  have  said.  That  is  a 
trick:  I  won't !  But  Jacob  did  not  revolt  from  it  a  bit.  He 
was  a  politic  man. 

"  And  Jacob  said  to  Rebekah  his  mother,  Behold,  Esau  my  brother  is  a 


hairy  man,  and  I  am  a  smooth  man  :  My  father  peradventure  will  feel  me, 
and  I  shall  seem  to  him  as  a  deceiver;  and  I  shall  bring  a  curse  upon  me, 
and  not  a  blessing." 

From  the  beginning,  you  see,  he  had  just   those  traits 
which  go  to  make  a  politician. 

"  And  his  mother  said  unto  him,  Upon  me  be  thy  curse,  my  son :  only 
obey  my  voice,  and  go  fetch  me  them.  And  he  went,  and  fetched,  and 
brought  them  to  his  mother :  and  his  mother  made  savory  meat,  such  as 
his  father  loved.  And  Rebekah  took  goodly  raiment  of  her  eldest  son 
Esau,  which  were  with  her  in  the  house,  and  put  them  upon  Jacob  he^ 
younger  son  :  and  she  put  the  skins  of  the  kids  of  the  goats  upon  his 
hands,  and  upon  the  smooth  of  his  neck  :  and  she  gave  the  savory  meat  and 
the  bread,  which  she  had  prepared,  into  the  hand  of  her  son  Jacob. 

"And  he  came  unto  his  father,  and  said.  My  father  :  and  he  said,  Here 
am  I ;  who  art  thou,  my  son  }  And  Jacob  said  unto  his  father,  I  am  Esau, 
thy  firstborn  ;  I  have  done  according  as  thou  badest  me  :  arise,  I  pray  thee, 
sit  and  eat  of  my  venison,  that  thy  soul  may  bless  me.  And  Isaac  said 
unto  his  son.  How  is  it  that  thou  hast  found  it  so  quickly,  my  son  }  And 
he  said.  Because  the  Lord  thy  God  brought  it  to  me.  And  Isaac  said 
unto  Jacob,  Come  near,  I  pray  thee,  that  I  may  feel  thee,  my  son,  whether 
thou  be  my  very  son  Esau  or  not." 

I  think  Isaac  had  an  inkling  of  the  boy. 

"And  Jacob  went  near  unto  Isaac  his  father." 

It  was  a  very  critical  time. 

"And  he  felt  him,  and  said,  The  voice  is  Jacob's  voice,  but  the  hands  are 
the  hands  of  Esau.  And  he  discerned  him  not,  because  his  hands  were 
hairy,  as  his  brother  Esau's  hands :  so  he  blessed  him.  And  he  said.  Art 
thou  my  very  son  Esau  ?  And  he  said,  I  am.  And  he  said.  Bring  it  near 
to  me,  and  I  will  eat  of  my  son's  venison,  that  my  soul  may  bless  thee.  And 
he  brought  it  near  to  him,  and  he  did  eat :  and  he  brought  him  wine,  and 
he  drank.  And  his  father  Isaac  said  unto  him.  Come  near  now,  and  kiss 
me,  my  son.  And  he  came  near,  and  kissed  him  :  and  he  smelled  the 
smell  of  his  raiment." 

The  old  man  was  not  as  foolish  as  he  seemed.     There 

was  a  subtle  fear  running   through   his   mind,  and   yet  he 

did    not    say    so.       He    tested    it    in    these   various    ways. 

Having  smelled  of   his  garments,   he  blessed  Jacob,  and 

said  : — 

"See,  the  smell  of  my  son  is  as  the  smell  of  a  field  which  the  Lord  hath 
blessed  :  Therefore  God  give  thee  of  the  dew  of  heaven,  and  the  fatness  of 
the  earth,  and  plenty  of  corn  and  wine  :  Let  people  serve  thee,  and  nations 


loo  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

bow  down  to  thee  :  be  lord  over  thy  brethren,  and  let  thy  mother's  sons 
bow  down  to  thee  :  cursed  be  every  one  that  curseth  thee,  and  blessed  be 
he  that  blesseth  thee." 

There  is  the  old  patriarch's  benediction  on  his  son.  Not 
a  word  of  what  we  call  religion,  or  aspiration,  or  personal 
nobility,  but  much  of  harvests,  vineyards,  fields,  and 
sovereignty.  That  was  all  that  lay  in  the  great  patriarch's 
blessing.  He  gave  it  in  full  faith  that  the  blessing  Abra- 
ham had  received  and  bequeathed  to  him  was  also  his  to 
bestow  upon  his  successors  ;  yet  the  element  of  superstition 
is  clear,  in  his  belief  that  a  blessing,  although  secured  by 
fraud,  must  be  a  blessing  still. 

"  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  soon  as  Isaac  had  made  an  end  of  blessing 
Jacob,  and  Jacob  was  yet  scarce  gone  out  from  the  presence  of  Isaac  his 
father,  that  Esau  his  brother  came  in  from  his  hunting.  And  he  also  had 
made  savory  meat,  and  brought  it  unto  his  father,  and  said  unto  his 
father.  Let  my  father  arise,  and  eat  of  his  son's  venison,  that  thy  soul  may 
bless  me.  And  Isaac  his  father  said  unto  him.  Who  art  thou  .''  And  he 
said,  I  am  thy  son,  thy  firstborn  Esau.  And  Isaac  trembled  very 
exceedingly,  and  said,  Who  t  where  is  he  that  hath  taken  venison,  and 
brought  it  me,  and  I  have  eaten  of  all  before  thou  camest,  and  have  blessed 
him?  yea,  and  he  shall  be  blessed.  And  when  Esau  heard  the  words  of 
his  father,  he  cried  with  a  great  and  exceeding  bitter  cry,  and  said  unto  his 
father,  Bless  me,  even  me  also,  O  my  father.  And  he  said,  Thy  brother 
came  with  subtilty,  and  hath  taken  away  thy  blessing.  And  he  said,  Is  not 
he  rightly  named  Jacob  {Supphviter]  ?  for  he  hath  supplanted  me  these  two 
times :  he  took  away  my  birthright,  and,  behold,  now  he  hath  taken  away 
my  blessing.  And  he  said.  Hast  thou  not  reserved  a  blessing  for  me? 
And  Isaac  answered  and  said  unto  Esau,  Behold,  I  have  made  him  thy 
lord,  and  all  his  brethren  have  I  given  to  him  for  servants  ;  and  With  corn 
and  wine  have  I  sustained  him  :  and  what  shall  I  do  now  unto  thee,  my 
son  ?  And  Esau  said  unto  his  father.  Hast  thou  but  one  blessing,  my 
father  ?  bless  me,  even  me  also,  O  my  father.  And  Esau  lifted  up  his  voice, 
and  we'pt." 

Which  was  the  nobler  boy  of  the  two  ? 

"And  Isaac  his  father  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Behold,  thy  dwelling 
shall  be  the  fatness  of  the  earth,  and  of  the  dew  of  heaven  from  above; 
and  by  thy  sword  shalt  thou  live,  and  shalt  serve  thy  brother:  and  it  shall 
come  to  pass  when  thou  shalt  have  the  dominion,  that  thou  shalt  break  his 
yoke  from  off  thy  neck. 

"And  Esau  hated  Jacob  because  of  the  blessing  wherewith  his  father 
blessed  him  :    and  Esau  said  in   his  heart.  The  days  of  mourning  for  my 


ISAAC.  loi 

father  are  at  hand ;  then  will  I  slay  my  brother  Jacob.  And  these  words 
of  Esau  her  elder  son  were  told  to  Rebekah  :  and  she  sent  and  called  Jacob 
her  younger  son,  and  said  unto  him,  Behold,  thy  brother  Esau,  as  touching 
thee,  doth  comfort  himself,  purposing  to  kill  thee.  Now  therefore,  niv 
son,  obey  my  voice  ;  and  arise,  flee  thou  to  Laban  my  brother,  to  Haran  ; 
and  tarry  with  him  a  few  days,  until  thy  brother's  fury  turn  away :  [This 
was  probably  the  last  time  she  ever  saw  her  son.]  until  thy  brother's  anger 
turn  away  from  thee,  and  he  forget  that  which  thou  hast  done  to  him  : 
then  I  will  send,  and  fetch  thee  from  thence :  why  should  I  be  deprived 
also  of  you  both  in  one  day  ?  " 

She  did  lose  both  of  them  ;  and  it  served  her  right. 
Her  act  was  an  infamous  piece  of  treason.  There  was  not 
a  redeeming  feature  in  it.     It  was  an  outrage. 

Isaac  was  a  connecting  link  between  Abraham  and 
Jacob.  The  three  were  the  great  figures  in  antiquity. 
They  certainly  are  not  to  be  the  exemplars  of  instructors 
of  modern  times,  but  they  represent  the  highest  reach  to 
which  morality,  the  household,  and  religion  had  risen  at 
that  early  period  ;  and  they  were  men  so  much  beyond 
their  times  and  above  their  people  that  they  were  the  best 
material  that  could  be  selected  with  which  to  lay  the  foun- 
dations of  that  structure  which  has  outworn  the  ages. 
Abraham,  with  his  lofty  faith  in  the  invisible  God  and  his 
lordly  power  over  men  ;  Isaac,  with  his  affection  and 
humility,  and  his  placid  sagacity  of  managing  and  increas- 
ing his  great  inheritance  of  wealth  ;  and  Jacob,  crafty, 
courtly,  diplomatic,  persevering,  gifted  even  with  inspiring 
visions  of  spiritual  things — out  of  these  w^hat  a  wondrous 
stock  has  grown  ! 

That  I  may  not  do  Isaac  injustice,  I  will  say  that  there 
are  many  qualities  that  are  essential  to  a  rounded-out 
character,  which  are  not  needed  in  laying  the  foundations 
of  a  state,  and  that  many  a  man,  as  I  shall  show  next  Sab- 
bath evening,  may  be  eminently  fitted  to  establish  a  com- 
monwealth who  is  not  personally  a  man  that  we  should 
greatly  admire. 

If  there  is  to  be  a  nation  founded,  there  must  be  a  foun- 
dation laid  in  riches.  No  nation  was  ever  built  up  on 
sand.     Nations  are  of  necessity  established  on   property. 


102  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

Property  is  not  a  mere  thing  of  vulgar  value.  It  repre- 
sents the  forethought,  the  purpose,  the  wisdom,  the  self- 
denial,  the  ingenuity  of  the  human  mind.  It  represents 
the  conflicts  which  men  go  through  against  nature.  It 
represents  the  subjection  of  natural  law  to  the  uses  of  men. 
It  represents  the  highest  endeavors  of  mankind  in  certain 
directions  ;  and  on  these  states  are  built.  Poverty  may 
have  excellence,  but  poverty  in  a  whole  commonwealth  is 
absolutel}'  incompatible  with  civilization  ;  and  it  was  nec- 
essary that  the  foundations  of  nationalities  in  those  early 
times  should  be  laid  in  the  substantial  elements  that  result 
in  the  power  of  acquiring  property.  The  instinct  of  home 
was  great  in  Isaac,  The  power  of  accumulation,  the  policy 
and  wisdom  of  maintaining  what  he  had,  and  the  capacity 
to  transmit  his  possessions  to  another  generation — all  these 
were  in  him.  In  so  far  as  the  heroic  element  was  con- 
cerned he  was  absolutely  devoid  of  it  ;  but  in  so  far  as  the 
great  elements  that  went  to  build  up  a  commonwealth  were 
concerned  he  had  them  in  no  inconsiderable  degree,  not- 
withstanding his  quietness,  meekness,  and  gentleness — per- 
haps even  largely  because  of  them. 

Not  intellectual,  not  largely  inspired  in  the  direction 
of  morality,  but  being  guided  by  faith  that  the  promise 
of  his  father  Abraham  should  be  fulfilled  to  him,  and  that 
he  should  be,  in  succession,  the  father  of  many  generations 
of  posterity,  according  to  the  measure  of  his  wisdom  and 
strength,  he  sent  forward  the  blessing  ;  and  then  he  died, 
and  was  buried  in  Machpelah  :  and  his  body  has  turned  to 
dust,  and  his  bones  have  crumbled. 

But  his  posterity  still  flourish  upon  the  earth. 


VI. 

JACOB. 


"  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Among  them  that  are  born  of  women  there  hath 
not  risen  a  greater  than  John  the  Baptist :  notwithstanding,  he  that  is  least 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  greater  than  he."— Matt.  xi.  ii. 


John  was  the  latest  of  the  prophets,  and,  in  respect  to 
spiritual  understanding,  respecting  ethics  or  morality,  in 
regard  to  that  internal  spiritual  purity  which  the  Gospel 
contemplates,  and   according   to    the    declaration    of   our 
Master,  he  was  incomparably  higher  than  any  that  ever 
preceded  him.     Higher,  then,  was  he,  than  the  old  prophets, 
Jeremiah    and    Isaiah  ;    higher    than    David    or    Samuel  ; 
higher  than  Moses,  or  Abraham,  or  Isaac,  or  Jacob.     And 
yet,  Christ  says  that  the  least  in  the  new  kingdom  will  be 
greater  than  John  ;  how  much  higher,  then,  will  he  be  than 
all  the  antecedents  of  John  !— for  this  is  a  rule  of  measure- 
ment,  and  it  goes    straight    back  to  the  very  beginning. 
Commencing  at  zero  it  gradually  and  steadily  rises  through 
the  ages  until  it  comes  to  the  highest  point  in  the  old  dis- 
pensation, in  the  person  of  John  the  Baptist ;    and  then  it 
passes   into  a  new   state -namely,  the  development  of  a 
spiritual  condition  which  is  the  result  of  a  direct  personal 
converse  or  intercourse  of  God  with  the  human  soul. 

This  sentence,  then,  goes  clear  back  to  the  beginning. 
Ancient  saints  have  been  overdrawn.  We  have  seen  them 
th-rouo-h  the  golden  dust  of  superstition.  In  poems,  in 
moral"  treatises,  and  endlessly  in  sermons,  we  have  had  an 
indiscriminate  exaltation  of  these  men  ;  not  so  much  as 

.       Sunday  evening,  December  i,  1878.     Lesson  :   Tsa.  -x.viii. 


I04  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

great  factors,  and  as  marking  important  eras  in  a  vast  circle 
of  divine  providence,  but  as  great  saints.  They  were  great 
factors,  and  they  did  mark  important  eras  in  the  vast  circle 
of  divine  providence  ;  but  in  regard  to  their  personal  power 
and  excellence  we  have  been  brought  up  on  false,  exagger- 
ated, and  unreasonable  views.  The  popular  conception  of 
these  men  has  been  strained  in  a  way  that  was  unnatural. 
That  which  they  were  thought  to  be  was  impossible  under 
the  circumstances. 

So,  when  you  bring  out  the  simple  facts  in  the  actual 
Scripture  history,  plainly,  as  they  lie  there,  you  are  met 
with  surprise,  and  I  do  not  know  but  with  indignation. 
Men  feel  that  you  are  taking  away  their  God.  They  say, 
"  You  are  stripping  the  Bible."  No  :  not  of  anything  that 
is  worth  keeping.  I  am  correcting  your  erroneous  con- 
victions and  misconceptions.  I  am  saving  the  Bible  from 
falsehoods  that  have  been  fastened  upon  it.  Otherwise 
it  could  not  stand  the  shock  of  such  men  as  Ingersoll, 
whose  whole  force  lies  in  the  fact  that  he  is  fighting  the 
misconceptions  of  a  spurious  interpretation  ;  whereas  the 
Word  of  God,  under  a  true  rendering,  would  pass  unscathed 
and  unharmed.  The  critical  examination  that  is  going  on 
inside  and  outside  of  the  church  is  such  that  we  are  bound 
to  go  back  to  first  principles,  and  establish  ourselves  on 
the  simple  truth. 

These  remarks  are  required,  before  the  unfolding  of  the 
character  of  Jacob,  in  many  respects  the  most  faulty,  and 
yet  in  many  respects  the  greatest,  character  in  Hebrew 
antiquity.  As  a  picture  he  is  less  grand  than  Abraham, 
but  as  a  founder  of  nations  he  is  greater  than  Abraham. 
He  not  only  was  not  perfect,  but  he  was  imperfect  to  the 
degree  that  if  he  had  lived  in  our  day  he  would  have  been 
ranked  among  miscreants  and  criminals  ;  and  yet  in  his 
own  day  he  was  a  man  of  transcendent  moral  power.  If 
you  think  those  two  things  are  inconsistent  or  irreconcil- 
able, I  hope  to  show  you,  before  I  am  done,  that  they  are 
not. 

Wc  must,  in  the  first  place,  get  some  little  conception  of 


JACOB.  105 

how  far  back  these  men  lived — at  what  point  the  history 
of  Scripture  discovers  them  to  us.  It  is  admitted,  on  all 
hands,  that  in  regard  to  the  Greek  people  there  was  no 
true  history — nothing  but  fabulous  history — until  you 
come  down  to  the  Trojan  war  of  which  Homer  sang. 
Then  there  begins  to  be  some  historical  basis  or  foundation. 
But  Abraham  lived  seven  or  eight  hundred  years  before 
that  period.  He  lived  a  thousand  years  before  there  was 
any  considerable  authentic  history  of  Greece.  He  lived 
1 167  years  before  the  reputed  founding  of  Rome.  At  the 
time  that  he  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  lived  there  was  no 
historical  knowledge,  no  national  history  of  China,  of  India, 
of  Persia,  or  of  Assyria.  At  that  remote  period  only  Abra- 
ham's own  nation,  Chaldea,  represented  organized  govern- 
ment in  Asia,  and  only  the  ancient  Egypt  towered  up  in  all 
the  Vvdde  stretch  of  antiquity  as  a  civilized  nation.  And 
it  was  in  those  early  days  that  Abraham  pushed  westward 
to  begin  with  tents  and  caravans  his  search  for  the  Promised 
Land,  and  that  the  history  of  the  patriarchs  took  place. 

We  must,  then,  go  back  in  our  imagination,  and  ask  our- 
selves :  What  was  life  at  that  time  ?  What  were  men  ? 
What  was  known  ?  What  was  yet  unknown  ?  And  let  us 
be  sure  that  we  take  things  just  as  they  are — not  as  our 
fancy  would  like  to  have  them. 

With  these  statements  I  begin  the  history  of  Jacob.  I 
had  hoped  to  finish  this  history  to-night,  but  it  may  be 
more  than  can  be  properly  disposed  of  in  a  single  discourse. 

Jacob  was  a  twin  brother  ;  Esau  being  the  other  and 
the  firstborn.  The  first  picture  we  have  of  them  is  given 
to  us  in  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of  Genesis  :  Esau  was  a 
daring  hunter,  a  man  of  the  field,  Jacob  being  a  "plain" 
— or  quiet — man,  dwelling  in  tents.  War  and  hunting  were 
the  two  elements  of  heroism  known  in  that  period.  Esau, 
then,  was  a  stirring, "energetic,  outside-living  man.  while 
Jacob  was  a  peaceful  man  who  loved  home.  Isaac  loved 
Esau  because  he  did  eat  of  his  venison  ;  but  Rebekah  loved 
Jacob. 

You  never  would,  from  this  record,  so  condensed  is  it, 


Io6  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

get  any  definite  conception  of  the  age  of  these  brothers  at 
the  time  of  which  we  speak.  You  will  bear  in  mind  that 
the  transaction  which  is  first  related  could  not  have  taken 
place  much  before  they  were  fifty  years  old  ;  for  Jacob 
was  seventy-eight  years  of  age  when  he  conspired  with  his 
mother  to  defraud  Esau  of  his  blessing,  as  related  in  the 
last  lecture, — old  enough  to  have  known  better  !  Although 
we  have  not  a  definite  record  of  the  period  that  elapsed 
between  this  event  and  the  previous  transaction,  which  we 
are  now  to  review^  we  may  presume  that  it  was  not  more 
than  twenty-five  years.     Probably  it  was  not  near  so  much. 

"And  Jacob  sod  pottage  :  and  Esau  came  from  the  field,  and  he  was 
faint:  and  Esau  said  to  Jacob,  Feed  me,  I  pray  thee,  with  that  same  red 
pottage  ;  for  I  am  faint :  therefore  was  his  name  called  Edom  [Red].  And 
Jacob  said,  Sell  me  this  day  thy  birthright.  And  Esau  said,  Behold,  I  am 
at  the  point  to  die :  and  what  profit  shall  this  birthright  do  to  me  ?  And 
Jacob  said,  Swear  to  me  this  day  ;  and  he  sware  unto  him  :  and  he  sold  his 
birthright  unto  Jacob,  Then  Jacob  gave  Esau  bread  and  pottage  of  len- 
tils ;  and  he  did  eat  and  drink,  and  rose  up,  and  went  his  way.  Thus  Esau 
despised  his  birthright. 

What  was  the  birthright  ?  It  was  to  inherit  the  place  of 
his  father,  and  whatever  was  included  in  that.  As  in  the 
case  of  Abraham  and  Isaac,  so  Jacob,  if  he  succeeded,  would 
become  head  of  the  tribe  and  head  of  the  property  ;  and  as 
there  had  been  no  dift'erentiation  between  the  chief  and  the 
priest  he  would  be  head  of  the  tribe  in  religious  matters. 
He  would  be  king  as  well  as  priest  and  chief.  He  would 
stand  at  the  highest  point  at  which  it  was  conceivable  for 
a  person  to  stand  among  his  people. 

Measured  by  any  standard  of  moral  feeling  to-day,  this 
whole  transaction  was  mean  and  despicable  to  the  last 
degree.  '  If  3'ou  mince  matters  you  do  violence  to  your  own 
judgment,  and  do  no  good  to  history.  It  was  an  unmiti- 
gated piece  of  scoundrelism — for  whoever,  in  any  age,  vio- 
lates the  great  natural  instincts  is  a*scoundrel.  There  is 
no  use  of  putting  other  than  right  epithets  on  such  a  pro- 
ceeding as  this.  It  was  driving  a  hard  bargain  with  a 
brother,  by  simply  exercising  superior  commercial  fore- 
sight.    It    was    taking   him    when    he    was    weakened    by 


JACOB.  107 

travel,  and  when  he  was  so  faint  that  he  had  no  fair  use  of 
himself — when  he  said  of  his  condition,  "I  am  at  the  last 
gasp  ;  I  am  dying  ;  and  if  I  die  what  is  the  use  of  the 
birthright  to  me  ?  "  Taking  him  in  that  strait,  Jacob  made 
Esau  swear  that  he  should  become  the  inheritor  of  all  that 
pertained  to  the  proprietorship  of  his  father's  possessions. 
Can  you  conceive  of  any  such  thing  taking  place  without 
feeling  the  waters  of  indignation  roiled  in  your  whole 
soul  ?  It  is  abominable.  And  the  most  remarkable  thing 
in  regard  to  this  transaction  is,  that  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  the  Bible  there  is  not  a  single  word  of  criticism 
upon  it.  It  is  related  elsewhere  with  the  most  astounding 
comment  ;  for,  if  you  turn  to  the  twelfth  chapter  of  He- 
brews, and  the  fifteenth  verse,  you  will  find  this  state- 
ment : — 

"  Looking  diligently  lest  any  man  fail  of  the  grace  of  God  ;  lest  any  root 
of  bitterness  springing  up  trouble  you,  and  thereby  many  be  defiled ;  lest 
there  be  any  fornicator,  or  profane  person,  as  Esau,  who  for  one  morsel  of 
meat  sold  his  birthright.  For  ye  know  how  that  afterward,  when  he  would 
have  inherited  the  blessing,  he  was  rejected:  for  he  found  no  place  of 
repentance,  though  he  sought  it  carefully  with  tears." 

After  he  had  been  cheated  of  his  birthright,  his  weakness 
being  taken  advantage  of,  his  extremity  being  the  point  at 
which  the  screw  was  brought  to  bear,  after  he  had  pur- 
chased his  life  by  yielding  up  his  honor  and  dignity,  Esau 
is  reprobated  because  he  suffered  himself  to  give  up  his 
birthright  ;   and  yet  there  is  no  condemnation  of   Jacob. 
Such  is  the  treatment  in  the  Scripture  of  this  transaction, 
which  no  sane  man  can  look  upon  except  with   loathing 
and  indignation.     Esau,  the  one  that  is  wronged,  is  made 
to  bear  the  blame.     Why  is   this?     In  a  purely  spiritual 
point   of  view,  looking  at  these  men   as  representing  the 
progress  of  nations  and  of  the  human  race,  the  man  who 
had  a  conception  of   the  grandeur  of  chieftainship,  of  the 
priesthood,  of  the  household,  and  of  the  relations  of  the 
promises   of  God   to  the  future  welfare  of  mankmd-the 
man  who  had  these  things  in  his  mind,  evermore  awaken- 
ing a  dream  of  greatness  and  excellence  throughout  all  the 


io8  BIBLE  STCDIES. 

time  to  come,  was  superior  to  the  man  who  had  no  such 
conception — no  ambition  of  that  kind. 

Esau  had  an  ambition  as  a  conqueror  of  wild  beasts,  as 
a  man  of  enterprise  in  matters  physical,  but  he  w^as  with- 
out the  instincts  of  statesmanship  ;  without  the  instincts 
of  a  founder  of  nations  ;  without  the  instincts  of  a  man  of 
honor.  He  was  low^-toned.  He  is  blamed  because  he  was 
blameworthy.  On  the  other  hand,  while  these  facts  do  not 
alter  the  criminality  of  his  brother's  conduct,  the  spiritual 
outreaching  of  Jacob  was  a  noble  thing,  though  it  incited 
him  to  so  mean,  so  ignoble,  so  criminal  an  act.  That  is 
the  inward  meaning  of  the  New  Testament  reference  to 
the  matter.  The  act  was  intrinsically  wicked,  and  there  is 
no  use  of  defending  it  ;  it  was  shameful,  judged  by  any 
code  in  any  age  ;  but  such  an  act  would  not  be  so  wicked 
and  shameful  committed  by  some  men  in  some  ages,  as  it 
would  committed  by  other  men  in  other  ages.  It  was  not 
so  blameworthy  in  that  early  period  as  it  would  have  been 
in  our  day,  or  in  a  civilized  time.  It  was  done  before  there 
was  any  national  life  or  public  sentiment  to  direct  or  cor- 
rect human  conduct.  It  was  done  before  there  were  moral 
or  reformatory  institutions.  It  was  done  by  a  Bedouin 
Arab  in  the  wilderness — by  a  shepherd  living  in  tents.  It 
was  done  thousands  and  thousands  and  thousands  of  years 
ago,  in  the  very  twilight  of  existence.  Craft,  as  a  resource 
of  weakness  against  strength,  is  always  developed  in  early 
ages  ;  and  before  the  light  of  a  better  moral  sense  is  thrown 
upon  it  craft  is  not  regarded  as  a  crime.  In  the  early  ages 
of  every  nation  craft  is  looked  upon  as  a  virtue.  You  do 
not  need  to  go  back  to  antiquity  to  find  this  out.  It  has 
been  so" in  every  past  age.  It  is  indeed  as  reall}'  so  in  our 
day  as  ever  it  was  at  any  previous  time,  though  not  so 
u^idely.  In  certain  lines  it  is  tolerated  now  as  much  as  it 
was  at  any  earlier  period  of  the  world.  It  has  always  been 
regarded  as  a  trait  of  genius  for  a  man  to  be  able  to  outwit 
his  fellov*^  men;  and  in  an  age  when  every  man's  life  hung  on 
a  thread,  as  it  were,  and  self-defense  was  a  thing  of  almost 
universal  necessity,  it  was  less  culpable  than  it  is  now. 


JACOB.  105 

We  dwell  in  a  land  where  we  do  not  think  anything 
about  personal  self-defense.  We  have  armies  and  navies,  we 
have  institutions,  we  have  forts  and  soldiers,  we  have  even 
policemen,  and  our  defense  gives  us  no  concern  ;  but  let  a 
man  live  on  the  border  of  civilization,  so  that  every  night 
he  carries  his  scalp  not  knowing  where  he  will  find  it  in  the 
morning,  let  a  man  be  so  situated  that  his  safety  depends 
on  perpetual  vigilance,  let  a  man  be  obliged  to  hide  from 
danger  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,  let  a  man  find 
himself  in  a  society  where  he  must  take  care  of  himself  or 
be  set  upon  and  beaten  down  by  strong  and  designing  men, 
and  he  will  think  a  great  deal  about  self-defense. 

The  first  development  of  the  natural  man  in  those  early 
ages  was  to  resist  violence  with  violence,  where  there  was 
strength  for  resistance  ;  but  where  there  was  not  strength, 
to  duck  under — that  is,  to  disguise,  to  deceive,  to  resort  to 
craft,  to  outwit  the  adversary. 

A  man  knows  that  his  enemy  is  tracking  him  :  he  digs  a 
deep  pit  ;  he  covers  it  with  brush  ;  it  looks  like  good,  firm 
ground  ;  he  shows  himself  on  the  other  side  of  it ;  the 
skulking  enemy  springs  after  him,  and  down  he  goes  into 
the  hole,  and  is  trapped  by  the  man  that  he  sought  to  kill. 
The  man  who  has  escaped  death  feels  pretty  triumphant 
under  the  circumstances  ;  and  he  owes  his  life  to  craft. 

That  old  spirit  is  not  so  far  gone  but  that,  nowadays,  if 
a  man  had  an  adversary  hard  after  him,  he  would  resort 
to  some  dexterous  trick,  or  some  form  of  deceit,  in  order  to 
save  his  life.  It  is  just  this  that  prevails  in  the  early  devel- 
opment of  the  human  race,  before  they  have  the  advantage 
of  the  instruction  that  comes  from  the  accumulated  expe- 
rience of  men,  and  from  the  increasing  light  of  revelation 
or  inspiration. 

You  will  find  in  Greek  history  that  one  of  Homer's 
heroes,  Ulysses,  is  crafty.  Homer  chuckles  in  showing 
how  sharp  he  was,  and  how  he  outwitted  everybody. 
Many  of  the  scenes  in  early  history  are  best  described  by 
fairy  stories.  I  think  they  are  better  delineations  of  the 
condition  of  men  before  they  were  educated  or  developed 


no  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

than  anything  else,  unless  it  be  the  Old  Testament  Scrip- 
tures. You  will  find  that  in  such  stories  lying  and  steal- 
ing are  not  thought  to  be  wrong.  The  little  hero,  being 
pitted  against  a  giant,  tells  him  all  sorts  of  lies,  and  betrays 
him  into  cutting  his  own  throat,  or  doing  something  else 
<:hat  amounts  to  his  destruction.  With  your  knowledge  of 
cause  and  effect  there  is  to  you  an  element  of  inconsistency 
and  untruthfulness  in  fairy  stories,  but  in  olden  times  men 
did  not  know  anything  about  cause  and  effect.  Natural 
law  was  not  understood  then.  The  theories  on  this  sub- 
ject are  a  later  development.  They  have  come  in  since  the 
Roman  era. 

One  of  Macaulay's  essays,  which  is  worthy  of  your  read- 
ing on  many  accounts,  is  that  on  Machiavelli  (a  name  that 
has  passed  into  universal  use  as  a  type  of  craft  or  deceit). 
In  order  to  present  a  fair  exposition  of  Machiavelli,  Ma- 
caulay  gives  an  account  of  public  feeling  in  Italy,  where 
corporations  and  dynasties  had  crushed  out  the  people, 
where  they  resorted  to  all  manner  of  deceit  and  craft  and 
cunning,  and  where  the  state  of  public  feeling  was  thor- 
oughly in  favor  of  lying.  It  was  regarded  not  only  as 
smart,  but  as  sagacious,  philosophical,  and  justifiable.  If 
Shakespeare's  play  of  "  Othello  "  were  performed  in  any 
Northern  nation  Othello  would  be  the  hero,  and  lago  would 
be  despised  with  loathing,  as  a  base,  intriguing  scoundrel; 
but  in  Italy  of  Machiavelli's  day  it  would  be  the  other  way, 
and  it  would  be  said,  "That  old  beef-eating  Othello  is 
despicable,  but  that  splendid  manager  lago  is  an  admirable 
fellow."  Deceit  and  craft  were,  according  to  the  prevalent 
conception,  public  sentiment  and  law. 

However,  we  need  not  go  back  so  far  as  antiquity  or 
even  the  Middle  Ages  for  an  example  of  one  man's  cheat- 
ing another  out  of  his  birthright,  because  he  has  the  power. 
That  is  not  a  thing  simply  of  the  past.  I  should  like  to 
know  what  right  England  has  in  India,  except  the  right 
which  comes  from  her  power  to  cheat  that  nation  out  of 
its  hereditary  possessicMis?  I  should  like  to  know  why 
England  is  in  Afghanistan,  except  because  she  has  the  abil- 


JACOB.  m 

ity  to  force  her  way  there  by  reason  of  the  weakness  of  the 
Afghanistan!,  and  compel  them  to  submit  to  her  govern- 
ment? I  should  like  to  know  what  right  there  was  in  the 
confederated  nations  of  Europe  to  divide  and  distribute 
Poland,  except  the  right  of  superior  force  ?  It  is  a  gigantic 
game  of  Jacob  over  again.  I  should  like  to  know  what 
right  this  government  of  the  United  States  has  to  dispose 
of  the  Indians  and  of  their  territory,  making  treaty  after 
treaty,  violating  one  almost  before  another  is  formed, 
starving  them  and  cheating  them  by  unscrupulous  agents, 
and  pursuing  them  with  an  army  whose  officers  blush,  and 
say  at  every  step,  "  The  Indians  are  right  and  we  are 
wrong"  ?  I  think  our  age  is  not  so  far  advanced  that  we 
can  afford  to  be  severe  on  Jacob.  If,  with  all  the  light  of 
the  Gospel,  with  eighteen  hundred  years  of  Christian  in- 
struction, with  the  experience  of  empires  and  nations,  with 
the  modified  morality  that  makes  our  households  what 
they  are,  with  the  manhood  and  all  the  refinements  of 
life — if,  with  these  advantages,  we  can  stand  calmly  by  and 
see  such  t?iings  done  without  horror  and  protest,  is  it 
becoming  in  us  to  be  very  much  shocked  at  what  was  done 
six  thousand  years  ago  ?  Disconnected  from  and  unsur- 
rounded  by  any  mitigating  circumstances,  it  was  an  abomi- 
nable deed  ;  but  it  was  done  at  a  time  when  men  did  not 
know  how  abominable  such  deeds  were. 

But  do  you  say,  "  Jacob,  notwithstanding,  was  accepted 
for  a  great,  providential  work  "  ?  Yes,  he  was,  in  spite  of 
this — not  in  consequence  of  it ;  just  as  England  and  Amer- 
ica are  to-day.  Providence  must  work  with  the  materials 
it  has.  If  it  worked  only  with  perfect  men  it  would  never 
work  at  all.  All  the  way  down,  God  works  with  every- 
thing that  can  be  made  to  conspire  with  his  purposes,  re- 
straining the  wrath  of  man,  and  causing  the  remainder 
thereof  to  praise  him. 

But  one  modicum  of  relief  in  the  contrast  lies  in  the 
vulgarity  of  Esau's  nature,  and  in  the  ambition  or  craving 
for  eminence  that  is  manifested  in  Jacob.  It  is  a  very  slight 
alleviation,  however. 


112  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

The  next  point  in  Jacob's  history  is  his  conspiracy  with 
his  mother  to  deceive  his  father,  her  husband,  and  to  com- 
plete the  bad  bargain  of  fraud  already  entered  upon 
against  his  brother  Esau,  by  securing  for  Jacob  the  patri- 
arch's dying  blessing,  which  was  the  last  will  and  testa- 
ment of  the  old  chief.  I  read  last  Sabbath  evening  in 
Isaac's  history,  and  shall  not  repeat  to-night,  the  painful 
details  of  this  very  disgusting  conspiracy  between  amothei 
and  one  son,  as  against  the  husband  and  father  and  the 
other  son.  It  was  a  calculated  fraud  ;  it  was  a  deliberate 
purpose  formed  to  defraud  ;  and  judged  by  our  modern 
standards  as  applied  to  the  household  it  has  in  it  almost 
every  element  that  could  make  it  despicable.  You  cannot 
speak  of  it  too  severely,  on  its  merits. 

And  that  is  not  the  whole  of  it.  I  think  the  most  extra- 
ordinary part  of  tlie  matter  is  that  both  Jacob  and  his 
mother  believed  themselves  to  be  eminently  religious,  and 
neither  of  them  showed  at  that  time,  or  at  any  subsequent 
time,  the  slightest  sign  of  remorse.  They  gave  no  evi- 
dence that  they  thought  they  were  doing  wrong.  So  far 
as  the  recorded  history  of  the  transaction  is  concerned, 
there  is  nothing  to  show  that  in  after  years  Jacob  was  con- 
victed of  this  as  a  sin,  or  looked  back  upon  it  with  regret ; 
and  yet  he  was  seventy-eight  years  ojd  when  he  committed 
it.  And  nowhere  has  any  writer  in  the  Bible  borne  any 
witness  against  the  disgraceful  proceeding.  It  must  stand, 
therefore,  as  a  prodigious  testimony  of  the  low  moral  de- 
velopment of  men  in  that  early  age,  when  such  an  unpar- 
alleled outrage  could  occur  without  condemnation,  or  even 
criticism. 

From  how  low  a  state,  then,  has  the  family  of  man 
arisen  !  Do  not  attempt  to  palliate  this  act,  except  to  show 
that  it  was  the  act  of  men  in  an  undeveloped  age,  and  that 
we  are  not  to  apply  to  them  the  severity  of  condemnation 
which  we  apply,  in  this  later  age,  to  ourselves,  who  have 
better  instruction. 

They  violated  no  moral  sense  that  was  in  them  ;  and  the 
measure  of  the  wrong,  in  so  far  as  the  wrongdoer  is  con- 


JACOB.  113 

cerned,  lies  not  in  the  mischief  that  the  act  works  out- 
wardly, but  in  his  responsibility  to  his  best  understanding 
inwardly.  Since  they  were  so  rude  and  low  that  they  had 
no  moral  sense  which  was  violated,  the  act  did  not  work 
upon  them  such  demoralization  as  the  same  act  would 
upon  us. 

The  attempt  of  some  persons  to  explain  this  by  saying 
that  Jacob  acted  under  divine  inspiration,  that  he  obeyed 
the  decrees  of  God,  and  that  it  was  right  because  God  in- 
spired it,  is  futile.  I  do  not  think  that  style  of  reasoning 
exonerates  the  culprit,  and  the  effect  is  to  debauch  the 
moral  ideas  of  mankind.  It  is  to  charge  God  with  inspir- 
ing deceit  and  cunning  and  with  violating  the  great  law  of 
love.  It  does  not  justify  the  actor,  but  tends  to  destroy 
the  faith  of  mankind  in  God.  We  are  to  abhor  the  dec- 
trine  that  a  thing  is  right  because  God  says  it.  Things  are 
not  right  because  God  says  them  ;  but  he  says  them  be- 
cause they  are  right.  There  is  no  inspiration  on  the  part 
of  God  of  any  such  doctrine  as  that  things  are  right  or  true 
because  God  says  them.  There  is  no  need  of  falling  back 
on  any  such  debasing  theory.  "Let  God  be  true,"  says  the 
sacred  Writ,  "and  every  man  a  liar."  Maintain  the  integ- 
rity of  moral  government  in  the  universe,  and  let  saints, 
patriarchs,  and  inspired  men  go  as  th^y  ma}'.  Whatever 
criticism  you  put  upon  men,  do  not  destroy  the  confidence 
of  the  world  in  the  integrity,  justice,  truth,  and  purity  of 
God. 

Men  are  led  to  this  by  having  a  vicious  theory  of  inspi- 
ration— a  theory  of  inspiration  that  is  not  contained  in  the 
Bible,  and  that  is  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  Bible.  I 
believe  in  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  from  beginning  to 
end,  but  not  in  its  inspiration  in  every  part  alike  ;  and  the 
inspiration  I  believe  in  is  very  different  from  plenary  and 
verbal  inspiration. 

Now,  as  to  the  consequences  of  this  transaction.     They 

are  related  without  comment.     First,  we  have  a  revelation 

of  the  effect  of  these  proceedings  upon  the  man  Esau. 

'And  Esau  hated  Jacob  because   of  the  b'.essing  wherewith  his  father 
8 


114  BIBLE   STCDIES. 

blessed   him:  and  Esau  said  in   his  heart,  The  days  of  mourning  for  my 
father  are  at  hand  ;  then  will  I  slay  my  brother  Jacob." 

It  is  as  if  he  had  said,  "  Tlie  old  man  will  die  before 
long,  and  then  I  will  kill  Jacob."  A  lovely  condition  of 
affairs  it  was — a  son  waiting  for  a  father  to  die  before  he 
should  kill  his  brother  ! 

"And  the  words  of  Esau  her  elder  son  were  told  to  Rebekah  :  and  she 
sent  and  called  Jacob  her  younger  son,  and  said  unto  him — " 

What  ?  Not  a  word  of  regret  ;  not,  "•  We  have  made  a 
mistake,  and  let  us  rectify  it  "  ?    Nothing  of  the  sort  ;  but, 

"Behold,  thy  brother  Esau,  as  touching  thee,  doth  comfort  himself,  pur- 
posing to  kill  thee.  Now  therefore,  my  son,  obey  my  voice;  and  arise,  flee 
thou  to  Laban  my  brother,  to  Haran  ;  and  tarry  with  him  a  few  days,  until 
thy  brother's  fury  turn  away ;  until  thy  brother's  anger  turn  away  from  thee, 
and  he  forget  that  which  thou  hast  done  to  him  :  then  I  will  send,  and  fetch 
thee  from  thence  :  why  should  I  be  deprived  also  of  you  both  in  one  day  ?  " 

That  was  the  counsel  of  the  mother — the  beautiful 
Rebekah,  whose  courtship  had  been  so  charming  ! 

There  is  another  scene  connected  with  this  affair.  Re- 
bekah goes  to  her  venerable  husband,  and  says  to  him, — 

"  T  am  weary  of  my  life  because  of  the  daughters  of  Heth  :  if  Jacob  take  a 
wife  of  the  daughters  of  Heth,  such  as  these  which  are  of  the  daughters  of 
the  land,  what  good  shall  my  life  do  me  ? 

"And  Isaac  called  Jacob,  and  blessed  him,  and  charged  him,  and  said  unto 
him.  Thou  shalt  not  take  a  wife  of  the  daughters  of  Canaan." 

The  good  woman  judged  very  correctly  as  to  the  right 
line  of  appeal. 

"Arise,- go  to  Padan-aram,  to  the  house  of  Kethuel  thy  mother's  father; 
and  take  thee  a  wife  from  thence  of  the  daughters  of  Laban  thy  mother's 
brother.  And  God  Almighty  bless  thee,  and  make  thee  fruitful,  and  mul- 
tiply thee,  that  thou  mayest  be  a  multitude  of  people  ;  and  give  thee  the 
blessing  of-  Abraham,  to  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  with  thee;  that  thou  mayest 
inherit  the  land  wherein  thou  art  a  stranger,  which  God  gave  unto  Abra- 
ham. And  Isaac  sent  away  Jacob  :  and  he  went  to  Padan-aram  unto  Laban, 
son  of  Bethuel  the  Syrian,  the  brother  of  Rebekah,  Jacob's  and  Esau's 
mother." 

So,  then,  he  had  got  out  of  the  scrape  !  The  stolen 
blessing  was  to  stand  in  full  force,  and  he  was  to  be  snugly 
married.  Well,  that  must  surprise  every  person  of  a  fresh 
and  unvitiated  conscience  ;  unless  he  is  relieved  bv  the  evi- 


JACOB.  115 

dence  which  we  have  of  the  utterly  undeveloped  moral 
sense  of  men  in  that  early  age. 

When  Esau  saw  that  Isaac  had  blessed  Jacob,  and  sent 
him  to  take  a  wife  from  Padan-aram,  he  went  and  married 
elsewhere  to  vex  his  mother,  and  did  other  things  that  we 
do  not  need  to  dwell  upon.  We  will  go  on  with  the  his- 
tory of  Jacob. 

He  went — in  the  western  part  of  Palestine,  across  the 
hills,  probably  in  sight  of  Hebron  and  Jerusalem — through 
what  was  afterward  Samaria  ;  he  traversed  the  valley  of 
the  Jordan,  crossing  it  somewhere  ;  he  most  likely  followed 
the  then  track  of  caravans  south  of  the  sea  of  Galilee, 
stretching  up  toward  Damascus,  and  eastward  to  Mesopo- 
tamia and  Haran,  where  Abraham  had  sojourned. 

"  Jacob  went  out  from  Beer-sheba,  and  went  toward  Haran.  And  he 
lighted  upon  a  certain  place,  and  tarried  there  all  night,  because  the  sun 
was  set ;  and  he  took  of  the  stones  of  that  place,  and  put  them  for  his  pil- 
lows, and  lay  down  in  that  place  to  sleep.  And  he  dreamed,  and  behold  a 
ladder  set  up  on  the  earth,  and  the  top  of  it  reached  to  heaven  :  and  behold 
the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending  on  it.  And,  behold,  the  Lord 
stood  above  it,  and  said,  I  am  the  Lord  [or,  Jehovah]  the  God  of  Abraham 
thy  father,  and  the  God  of  Isaac  :  the  land  whereon  thou  liest,  to  thee  will 
I  give  it,  and  to  thy  seed ;  and  thy  seed  shall  be  as  the  dust  of  the  earth ; 
and  thou  shalt  spread  abroad  to  the  west,  and  to  the  east,  and  to  the  north, 
and  to  the  south  :  and  in  thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  families  of  the 
earth  be  blessed.  And,  behold,  I  am  with  thee,  and  will  keep  thee  in  all 
places  whither  thou  goest,  and  will  bring  thee  again  into  this  land  ;  for  I 
will  not  leave  thee,  until  I  have  done  that  which  I  have  spoken  to  thee  of." 

There  is  all  the  rebuke  he  got  for  his  sin  of  unparalleled 
treachery  and  deceit,  for  this  abominable  outrage  of  the 
most  sacred  of  relationships.  It  is  very  fortunate  that  it 
was  a  dream.  He  thought  it  was  a  revelation  directly 
from  God.  Like  the  people  of  his  day,  like  barbarous 
nations  nowadays,  and  like  the  under-classes  in  our  own 
country,  he  thought  dreams  to  be  realities,  and  took  his 
dream  to  be  a  fact  ;  but  in  all  this  history  there  is  not  a 
trace  of  any  consciousness  on  his  part  of  having  done 
wronof.  He  committed  a  series  of  acts  which  would  have 
driven  any  man  out  of  our  society,  which  would  not  be 
tolerated   in  any    civilized  community  ;    and  yet,  in   that 


Ii6  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

early  age,  before  moral  virtue  had  been  developed,  it  was 
so  little  thought  of  as  a  fault  that  it  not  only  did  not 
trouble  his  memory,  but  his  sleeping  thoughts  made  visions 
of  God  sanctioning  and  confirming  the  blessing. 

When  Jacob  dreamed,  lying,  weary  from  his  journey,  in 
the  open  field,  and  restless,  as  men  are  when  they  dream, 
all  he  saw  was  God  declaring  that  by  his  providence  he 
would  take  care  of  him,  and  fulfill  in  him  the  promise 
made,  that  he  should  be  the  father  of  many  generations, 
and  inherit  vast  possessions.  There  was  no  revelation  to 
him  of  moral  government,  no  disclosure  of  virtue,  no  de- 
velopment of  the  idea  of  higher  manhood  or  rectitude,  but 
simply  the  assurance  of  imperial  dominion. 

"  Jacob  rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  took  the  stone  that  he  had  put 
for  his  pillows,  and  set  it  up  for  a  pillar,  and  poured  oil  upon  the  top  of  it. 
And  he  called  the  name  of  that  place  Beth-el  [the  House  of  God] :  but  the 
name  of  that  city  was  called  Luz  at  the  first.  And  Jacob  vowed  a  vow, 
saying,  If  God  will  be  with  me,  and  will  keep  me  in  this  way  that  I  go,  and 
will  give  me  bread  to  eat,  and  raiment  to  put  on,  so  that  I  come  again  to 
my  father's  house  in  peace ;  then  shall  Jehovah  be  my  God." 

Well,  suppose  Jehovah  would  not  have  done  these 
things,  who  would  have  been  his  god  then  ?  This  is  a 
clear  act,  by  a  crude,  undeveloped  man,  bargaining  with 
his  God,  and  saying,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  "  I  will 
be  your  servant  if  you  will  be  my  protector."  That  is  the 
plain  English  of  it. 

"And  this  stone,  which  I  have  set  for  a  pillar,  shall  be  God's  house  :  and 
of  all  that  thou  shalt  give  me  I  will  surely  give  the  tenth  unto  thee." 

Such  a  transaction  in  our  time  would  be  regarded  as 
worse,  than  simony  ;  but  at  that  time  it  was  perliaps  as 
well  as  could  be  expected. 

We  now  come  to  another  of  those  beautiful  idyls  of  the 
Old  Testament.  Just  as  men,  traveling  over  California 
mountains,  go  through  rude  and  hirsute  places,  toiling 
laboriously,  severely  taxing  their  strength,  until  they  come 
to  some  intervale,  some  charming  little  valley,  where  every- 
thing is  pastoral  and  delightful,  where  the  clear  crystal 
stream  gives   them  refreshment^  and   they   sit  and  talk  of 


JACOB,  ,J7 

their  hardships,  so  we  go  through  these  rugged  parts  of  his- 
tory, and  all  at  once  strike  upon  the  most  exquisite  pictures. 

"Jacob  went  on  his  journey,  and  came  into  the  hind  of  the  people  of  the 
east.  And  he  looked,  and  behold  a  well  in  the  field,  and,  lo,  there  were 
three  flocks  of  sheep  lying  by  it;  for  out  of  that  well  they  watered  the 
flocks  :  and  a  great  stone  was  upon  the  well's  mouth.  And  thither  were  all 
the  flocks  gathered  :  and  they  rolled  the  stone  from  the  well's  mouth,  and 
watered  the  sheep,  and  put  the  stone  again  upon  the  well's  mouth  in  his 
place." 

That  is  to  say,  this  was  their  custom. 
"And  Jacob  said  unto  them,  My  brethren,  whence  be  ye  }  " 
We  are  to  think  of  him  as  we  would  think  of  a  magnifi- 
cent old  Bedouin  chief  of  to-day,  as  being  a  pattern  of 
etiquette  and  courtesy,  and  as  addressing  the  shepherds  in 
stately,  admirable  language.  A  modern  traveler,  going  to 
seek  his  fortune,  would  very  likely  have  said,  "  Halloo, 
boys  !  what  are  you  doing  here  ?  "  You  might  expect  from 
him  some  such  curt  and  rude  form  of  address  ;  but  not  so 
with  wanderers  in  the  wilderness  of  the  East.  Even 
though  they  took  your  life  they  took  it  with  extraordinary 
grace  and  dignity  !     So  Jacob  salutes  these  men  with,— 

"My  brethren,  whence  be  ye  ?  And  they  said,  Of  Uaran  are  we.  And 
he  said  unto  them,  Know  ye  Laban  the  son  of  Nahor  ?  And  they  said,  We 
know  him.  And  he  said  unto  them,  Is  he  well  ?  And  they  said,  He  is 
well  :  and,  behold,  Rachel  his  daughter  cometh  with  the  sheep.  And  he 
said,  Lo,  it  is  yet  high  day,  neither  is  it  time  that  the  cattle  should  be 
gathered  together :  water  ye  the  sheep,  and  go  and  feed  them.  And 
they  said,  We  cannot,  until  all  the  flocks  be  gathered  together,  and  till  they 
roll  the  stone  from  the  well's  mouth;  then  we  water  the  sheep. 

"And  while  he  yet  spake  with  them,  Rachel  came  with  her  father's  sheep  : 
for  she  kept  them.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Jacob  saw  Rachel  the  daughter 
of  Laban  his  nrother's  brother,  and  the  sheep  of  Laban  his  mother's  brother, 
that  Jacob  went  near,  and  rolled  the  stone  from  the  well's  mouth,  and 
watered  the  flock  of  Laban  his  mother's  brother." 

It  was  not  the  only  time  that  love  has  uncovered  deep 
wells.  You  recollect  that,  in  his  father's  courtship,  it  was 
Rebekah  that  watered  the  camels  of  Eliezer,  the  steward  ; 
but  in  this  case  it  is  changed,  and  Jacob  waters  the  flock 
of  Rachel. 

"And  Jacob  kissed  Rachel,  and  lifted  up  his  voice  and  wept." 


Ti8  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

That  is  not  usually  the  effect  of  such  a  salutaiion  ! 
Nevertheless,  that  simple  statement  is  most  penetrating 
and  revelatory.  It  is  a  master-stroke.  All  the  way  through 
Jacob's  weary  journey  of  probably  two  or  three  weeks — 
following  upon  the  exhaustive  excitement  of  the  conspir- 
acy for  the  blessing  and  the  subsequent  fear  for  his  life 
at  the  hand  of  Esau — there  was  uncertainty,  except  so  far 
as  his  hope  was  confirmed  by  the  conviction  of  his  dream, 
as  to  whether  or  not  he  should  find  his  mother's  brother ; 
but  when  he  beheld  at  the  well  Rachel,  of  his  own  kindred 
and  household,  the  whole  uncertainty  was  dispelled  ;  and 
when  she  recognized  the  relationship,  and  suffered  herself 
to  be  kissed  by  him,  his  heart  gave  way  to  the  tide  of 
gladness  which  swept  through  him.  His  feelings  were 
akin  to  those  of  men  who,  wrecked,  have  drifted  along 
upon  a  dark  sea  on  a  raft,  and  are  almost  spent,  when  at 
last,  as  the  morning  breaks,  they  see  a  ship  bearing  down 
upon  them  for  their  relief,  and,  in  spite  of  famine,  cold,  and 
wretchedness,  lift  up  voices,  feeble  though  they  be,  of 
joy,  and  shed  tears  of  thanksgiving,  and  shout,  "We  are 
saved!  we  are  saved  !"  And  for  depth  or  impressiveness, 
there  are  no  tears  like  those  which  love  and  joy  shed. 

"  It  came  to  pass,  when  Laban  heard  the  tidings  of  Jacob  his  sister's  son, 
that  he  ran  to  meet  him,  and  embraced  him,  and  kissed  him,  and  brought 
him  to  his  house.  And  he  [Jacob]  told  Laban  all  these  things.  And 
Laban  said  to  him,  Surely  thou  art  my  bone  and  my  flesh.  And  he  abode 
with  him  the  space  of  a  month." 

Thus  far  he  was  a  guest. 

•^And  Laban  said  unto  Jacob,  Because  thou  art  my  brother,  shouldest  thou 
therefore  serve  me  for  naught .''  Tell  me,  what  shall  thy  wages  be  ?  And 
Laban  had  two  daughters  :  the  name  of  the  elder  was  Leah,  and  the  name 
of  the  younger  was  Rachel.  Leah  was  tender-eyed  [sore-eyed,  it  may  be 
— a  matter  of  small  importance  to  you;  but  it  would  have  been  a  matter  of 
great  importance  to  you  if  you  had  been  in  her  place.  Ophthalmia  is  a  well- 
nigh  universal  complaint  in  Oriental  countries,  where  the  glare  of  the  sun, 
the  shining  sands,  and  the  want  of  proper  cleanliness  affect  the  population 
to  a  degree  almost  unknown  in  Occidental  lands.  Leah,  it  may  be  presumed, 
was  weak-eyed] ;  but  Rachel  was  beautiful  and  well-favored.  And  Jacob 
loved  Rachel  ;  and  said,  I  will  serve  thee  seven  years  for  Rachel  thy 
younger  daughter." 


JACOB.  119 

Jacob  was  pleased,  and  Laban  had  made  a  very  good 
bargain.  He  had  sold  his  daughter  at  an  excellent  market 
price — for  it  was  a  sale.  It  was  in  a  day  when  men  sold 
their  children.     The  practice  is  not  quite  abandoned  yet. 

"Jacob  served  seven  years  for  Rachel  [where,  in  the  English  language,  is 
there  anything  more  beautiful  than  the  remainder  of  this  sentence  !J,  and 
they  seemed  unto  him  but  a  few  da3's,  for  the  love  he  had  to  her." 

How  love  lightens  burdens,  shortens  the  road,  and  takes 
away  care  !  Love  is  the  universal  solacer  of  pain,  and  the 
universal  reconciler  of  evil.  It  is  the  one  great  element 
whose  concentration  and  permanence  make  eternal  life. 

"And  Jacob  said  unto  Laban,  Give  me  my  wife,  for  my  days  afe  fulfilled." 

I  will  not  go  through  the  details  of  this  history.  Jacob 
found  that  Leah  had  been  apportioned  to  him  ;  and  he 
then  renewed  the  bargain  for  Rachel,  and  served  seven 
years  more  for  her. 

I  will  not  read  the  pitiful  thirtieth  chapter  of  Genesis. 
It  is  full  of  revelations  of  the  effects  of  polygamy,  and  of 
the  condition  of  the  family  in  an  early  age,  with  its  igno- 
rance, with  its  coarseness,  with  its  jealousies,  and  with  its 
occasional  beauties.  In  the  main  it  is  enveloped  in  a  low, 
chilly,  foggy  atmosphere.  It  is  a  very  sad  chapter  in  many 
respects. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Rachel  had  borne  Joseph,  that  Jacob  said 
unto  Laban,  Send  me  away,  that  I  may  go  unto  mine  own  place,  and  to  my 
country.  Give  me  my  wives  and  my  children,  for  whom  I  have  served  thee, 
and  let  me  go:  for  thou  knowest  my  service  which  I  have  done  thee." 

Laban  was  a  good  bargain-maker.     He  said  : — 

"  I  have  learned  by  experience  that  the  Lord  hath  blessed  me  for  thy 
sake.     And  he  said,  Appoint  me  thy  wages,  and  I  will  give  it." 

Then  a  new  bargain  was  made  ;  and  Jacob,  having  been 
overreached  a  great  many  times,  contrived  to  overreacli 
his  father-in-law  in  this  case.  He  agreed  to  continue  to 
serve  Laban  for  all  the  cattle  that  were  ringstreaked, 
speckled,  and  spotted  ;  then  he  devised  methods  that 
brought  a  due  measure  of  the  products  of  the  flock  to  his 
side  ;  and  he  did  not  seem  to  suffer  in  his  conscience  from 
any  such  reasons.     But  the  great  increase  of  his  possessions 


120  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

— of  the  children  of  his  household  and  of  his  flocks — ex- 
cited the  jealousy  and  hatred  of  the  family  of  Laban. 

"And  he  heard  the  words  of  Laban's  sons,  saying,  Jacob  hath  taken  away 
all  that  was  our  father's  ;  and  of  that  which  was  our  father's  hath  he  gotten 
all  this  glory.  And  Jacob  beheld  the  countenance  of  Laban,  and,  behold,  it 
was  not  toward  him  as  before.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Jacob,  Return  unto 
the  land  of  thy  fathers,  and  to  thy  kindred ;  and  I  will  be  with  thee." 

It  is  not  stated  that  this  was  uttered  by  a  voice  from  out 
of  heaven.  It  might  not  have  been  even  a  dream.  It  might 
have  been  simply  a  strong  impression  that  was  made  upon 
his  mind,  as  if  it  were  from  above,  that  he  had  better  de- 
part, and  seek  again  the  region  of  the  land  of  his  fathers. 

"And  Jacob  sent  and  called  Rachel  and  Leah  to  the  field  unto  his  flock, 
and  said  unto  them,  I  see  your  father's  countenance,  that  it  is  not  toward 
me  as  before  ;  but  the  God  of  my  father  hath  been  with  me.  And  ye  know 
that  with  all  my  power  I  have  served  your  father.  And  your  father  hath 
deceived  me,  and  changed  my  wages  ten  times  ;  but  God  suffered  him  not 
to  hurt  me.  If  he  said  thus.  The  speckled  shall  be  thy  wages  ;  then  all  the 
cattle  bare  speckled :  and  if  he  said  thus,  The  ringstreaked  shall  be  thy 
hire ;  then  bare  all  the  cattle  ringstreaked.  Thus  God  hath  taken  away  the 
cattle  of  your  father,  and  given  them  to  me." 

There  is  an  unspeakable  simplicity  of  coolness  in  that 
statement,  attributing  directly  to  God  the  results  of  his 
own  shrewd  planning.  Have  good  men  altogether  got 
beyond  that,  even  yet  ? 

"And  the  angel  of  God  spake  unto  me  in  a  dream,  saying,  Jacob  :  and  I 
said,  Here  am  I." 

So  he  gave  to  his  wives  an  account  of  the  command  of 

God,  as  he  interprets  it,  that  he  should  emigrate  and  go 

westward. 

"  Then  Jacob  rose  up,  and  set  his  sons  and  his  wives  upon  camels  ;  and 
he  carried  away  all  his  cattle,  and  all  his  goods  which  he  had  gotten,  the 
cattle  of  his  getting,  which  he  had  gotten  in  Padan-aram,  for  to  go  to  Isaac 
his  father  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  And  Laban  went  to  shear  his  sheep : 
and  Rachel  had  stolen  the  images  that  were  her  father's." 

It  seems  that  Jacob's  wives  were  idolaters.  The  patri- 
arch's own  household  were  in  the  habit  of  worshiping  idols. 

"And  Jacob  stole  away  unawares  to  Laban  the  Syrian,  in  that  he  told 
him  not  that  he  fled.  So  he  fled  with  all  that  he  had ;  and  he  rose  up,  and 
passed  over  the  river  [the  Euphrates],  and  set  his  face  toward  the  mount 
Gilead. 


JACOB.  121 

"And  it  was  told  Laban  on  the  third  day  that  Jacob  was  fled.  And  he 
took  his  brethren  with  him,  and  pursued  after  him  seven  days'  journey ;  and 
they  overtook  him  in  the  mount  Gilead.  And  God  came  to  Laban  the 
Syrian  in  a  dream  by  night,  and  said  unto  him,  Take  heed  that  thou  speak 
not  to  Jacob  either  good  or  bad.  Then  Laban  overtook  Jacob.  Now 
Jacob  had  pitched  his  tent  in  the  mount :  and  Laban  with  his  brethren 
pitched  in  the  mount  of  Gilead. 

"And  Laban  sa'd  to  Jacob,  What  hast  thou  done,  that  thou  hast  stolen 
away  unawares  to  me,  and  carried  away  my  daughters,  as  captives  takei? 
with  the  sword .?  Wherefore  didst  thou  flee  away  secretly,  and  steal  away 
from  me  ;  and  didst  not  tell  me,  that  I  might  have  sent  thee  away  with 
mirth,  and  with  songs,  with  tabret,  and  with  harp ;  and  hast  not  suffered  me 
to  kiss  my  sons  and  my  daughters  ?  Thou  hast  now  done  foolishly  in  so 
doing.  It  is  in  the  power  of  my  hand  to  do  you  hurt :  but  the  God  of  your 
father  spake  unto  me  yesternight,  saying,  Take  thou  heed  that  thou  speak 
not  to  Jacob  either  good  or  bad.  And  now,  though  thou  wouldest  needs  be 
gone,  because  thou  sore  longedst  after  thy  father's  house,  yet  wherefore 
hast  thou  stolen  my  gods  ?  " 

Then  comes  a  revelatory  scene.  Jacob,  in  a  towering 
passion,  knowing  not  that  Rachel  had  taken  the  idols, 
denies  that  he  has  done  any  such  thing,  and  offers  to  have 
his  goods  ransacked.  Rachel  hid  them,  sitting  on  them, 
and  alleging  a  false  reason  why  she  should  not  get  up,  and 
the  father  could  not  find  his  gods. 

"And  Jacob  was  wroth,  and  chode  with  Laban  :  and  Jacob  answered  and 
said  to  Laban,  What  is  my  trespass  ?  what  is  my  sin,  that  thou  hast  so 
hotly  pursued  after  me  ?  Whereas  thou  hast  searched  all  my  stuff,  what 
hast  thou  found  of  all  thy  household  stuff  ?  Set  it  here  before  my  brethren 
and  thy  brethren,  that  they  may  judge  betwixt  us  both.  This  twenty  years 
have  I  been  with  thee." 

Then  Jacob  recounts  his  fidelity  in  service,  and  what  he 
has  suffered,  and  ends  by  saying  \— 

"  Thus  have  I  been  twenty  years  in  thy  house ;  I  served  thee  fourteen 
years  for  thy  two  daughters,  and  six  years  for  thy  cattle  :  and  thou  hast 
changed  my  wages  ten  times.  Except  the  God  of  my  father,  the  God  of 
Abraham,  and  the  Fear  of  Isaac,  had  been  with  me,  surely  thou  hadst  sent 
me  away  now  empty.  God  hath  seen  mine  afHiction  and  the  labor  of  my 
hands,  and  rebuked  thee  yesternight." 

There  followed  a  reconciliation  and  a  covenant,  and  they 
part.  Jacob  moves  forward,  and  comes  near  to  Jordan 
again  by  way  of  the  river  Jabbok,  with  varied  experiences. 
There  he  hears  that  Esau,  with  his  men,  is  coming,  and  he 


122  BIBLE  STUDIES, 

is  greatly  afraid.  The  generalship  which  he  manifests 
under  the  circumstances  is  worthy  of  exposition  ;  I  cannot 
give  it  to-night,  but  will  resume  the  subject  next  Sunday 
evening.  After  making  his  politic  arrangements,  while 
he  was  waiting  at  night  on  the  river  bank  to  learn  the 
result,  there  occurred  a  mysterious  scene,  memorable  for  a 
dramatic  reason,  as  well  as  for  other  reasons,  and  to  me 
interesting  because  it  has  given  rise  to  one  of  the  most 
magnificent  specimens  of  spiritualization  to  be  found  in 
any  language. 

"And  Jacob  was  left  alone ;  and  there  wrestled  a  man  with  him  until  the 
breaking  of  the  day.  And  when  he  saw  that  he  prevailed  not  against  him, 
he  touched  the  hollow  of  his  thigh  ;  and  the  hollow  of  Jacob's  thigh  was 
out  of  joint,  as  he  wrestled  with  him.  And  he  said,  Let  me  go,  for  the  day 
breaketh.  And  he  said,  I  will  not  let  thee  go,  except  thou  bless  me.  And 
he  said  unto  him,  What  is  thy  name  .-'  And  he  said,  Jacob.  And  he  said, 
Thy  name  shall  be  called  no  more  Jacob,  but  Israel  [Striver  with  God] :  for 
as  a  prince  hast  thou  power  with  God  and  with  men,  and  hast  prevailed. 
And  Jacob  asked  him,  and  said,  Tell  me,  I  pray  thee,  thy  name.  And  he 
said,  Wherefore  is  it  that  thou  dost  ask  after  my  name?  And  he  blessed 
him  there.  And  Jacob  called  the  name  of  the  place  Peniel  [The  Face  of 
God] :  for  I  have  seen  God  face  to  face,  and  my  life  is  preserved.  And  as 
he  passed  over  Penuel  the  sun  rose  upon  him,  and  he  halted  upon  his  thigh." 

Amid,  the  frivolous  and  mischievous  spiritualizations 
that  are  taking  place  in  the  Bible-reading  of  our  day,  I 
present  to  you  a  specimen  by  Charles  Wesley  of  what  we 
■:nay  regard  as  a  sublime  spiritualization  of  this  passage, 
and  of  that  most  mysterious  event  in  the  history  of  Jacob  : — 

Come,  O  thou  Traveler  unknown, 

Whom  still  I  hold,  but  cannot  see, 
My  company  before  is  gone. 

And  I  am  left  alone  with  Thee ; 
With  Thee  all  night  I  mean  to  stay, 
And  wrestle  till  the  break  of  day. 

I  need  not  tell  Thee  who  I  am, 

My  misery  or  sin  declare, 
Thyself  hast  called  me  by  my  name, 

Look  on  Thy  hands  and  read  it  there; 
But  who,  I  ask  Thee,  who  art  Thou  ? 
Tell  me  Thy  name,  and  tell  me  now. 


JACOB.  12 

In  vain  Thou  strugglest  to  get  free, 

I  never  will  unloose  my  hold  ; 
Art  Thou  the  man  that  died  for  me  ? 

The  secret  of  Thy  love  unfold; 
Wrestling,  I  will  not  let  Thee  go 
Till  I  Thy  name,  Thy  nature  know. 

Wilt  Thou  not  yet  to  me  reveal 

Thy  new  unutterable  name  ? 
Tell  me,  I  still  beseech  Thee,  tell ; 

To  know  it  now  resolved  I  am ; 
Wrestling,  I  will  not  let  thee  go 
Till  I  Thy  name,  Thy  nature  know. 

'Tis  all  in  vain  to  hold  Thy  tongue, 

Or  touch  the  hollow  of  my  thigh; 
Though  every  sinew  be  unstrung, 

Out  of  my  arms  Thou  shalt  not  fly ; 
Wrestling,  I  will  not  let  Thee  go 
Till  I  Thy  name,  Thy  nature  know. 

What  though  my  shrinking  flesh  complain, 

And  murmur  to  contend  so  long, 
I  rise  superior  to  my  pain, 

When  I  am  weak  then  I  am  strong  ; 
And  when  my  all  of  strength  shall  fail, 
I  shall  with  the  God-man  prevail. 

My  strength  is  gone,  my  nature" dies, 

I  sink  beneath  Thy  weighty  hand, 
Faint  to  revive,  and  fall  to  rise ; 

I  fall,  and  yet  by  faith  I  stand — 
I  stand,  and  will  not  let  Thee  go 
Till  I  thy  name,  Thy  nature  know. 

Yield  to  me  now,  for  I  am  weak. 

But  confident  in  self-despair; 
Speak  to  my  heart,  in  blessings  speak. 

Be  conquer'd  by  my  instant  prayer  ; 
Speak,  or  Thou  never  hence  shalt  move, 
And  tell  me  if  Thy  name  is  Love.-* 

'Tis  Love  !    'Tis  Love  !    Thou  diedst  for  me; 
I  hear  Thy  whisper  in  my  heart ; 


124  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

The  morning  breaks,  the  shadows  flee, 

Pure  Universal  Love  Thou  art ; 
To  me,  to  all,  Thy  bowels  move — 
Thy  nature  and  Thy  name  is  Love. 

My  prayer  hath  power  with  God  ;  the  grace 

Unspeakable  I  now  receive  ; 
Through  faith  I  see  Thee  face  to  face — 

I  see  Thee  face  to  face,  and  live  ; 
In  vain  I  have  not  wept  and  strove  ; 
Thy  nature  and  Thy  name  is  Love, 

I  know  Thee,  Saviour,  who  Thou  art — 
Jesus,  the  feeble  sinner's  Friend; 

Nor  wilt  Thou  with  the  night  depart. 
But  stay  and  love  me  to  the  end  ; 

Thy  mercies  never  shall  remove — 

Thy  nature  and  Thy  name  is  Love. 

The  Sun  of  Righteousness  to  me 

Hath  rose  with  healing  in  His  wings  ; 

Wither'd  my  nature's  strength,  from  Thee 
My  soul  its  life  and  succor  brings  ; 

My  help  is  all  laid  up  above — 

Thy  nature  and  Thy  name  is  Love. 

Contented  now  upon  my  thigh 

I  halt,  till  life's  short  journey  end  ; 

All  helplessness,  all  weakness,  I 

On  Thee  alone  for  strength  depend ; 

Nor  have  I  power  from  Thee  to  move — 

Thy  nature  and  Thy  name  is  Love. 

Lame  as  I  am,  I  take  the  prey. 

Hell,  earth,  and  sin  with  ease  o'ercome  ; 

I  leap  for  joy,  pursue  my  way. 
And  as  a  bounding  hart  fly  home. 

Through  all  eternity  to  prove 

Thy  nature  and  Thy  name  is  Love. 


VII. 
JACOB  AND  JOSEPH. 


I  MUST  recur  occasionally  to  the  fundamental  theory 
upon  which  I  treat  the  early  history  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment— a  theory  totally  different  from  that  which  regards 
the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  as  "  plenary  "  and  "ver- 
bal." You  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  Bible  itself  does 
not  anywhere  declare  what  inspiration  is.  It  merely  says 
that  Scripture  has  been  inspired  to  one  purpose— namely, 
"for  instruction  in  righteousness,  that  the  man  of  God  may 
be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works."  It 
goes  no  further. 

But  if  you  go  to  the  facts  I  think  you  will  find  that  the 
inspiration  spoken  of  is  primarily  the  inspiration  by  the 
divine  Mind  of  the  reason  and  moral  consciousness  of 
nations  and  races.  It  is  the  inspiration  of  the  evolution  of 
moral  truth  among  mankind,  of  which  the  Scripture  is  a 
partial  record  ;  and  it  is  a  partial  record  which  takes 
account  only  of  that  part  of  the  dealing  of  God  with  the 
human  race  which  lies  within  the  channel  or  along  the  line 
of  the  Semitic  race— the  Israelites. 

In  treating  of  the  patriarchal  age,  therefore,  I  have  repre- 
sented men  just  as  they  are  there  depicted,  in  the  old 
record.  It  is  impossible  to  read  many  of  the  scenes  that 
belong  to  the  early  conditions  of  the  human  race,  and  to 
those^'venerated  names  that  we  have  been  trained  to  look 
upon  through  the  luminous  medium  of  the  modern  church 
and  through  all  the  poetic  inspirations  and  incidental  col- 
orings that  have  been  given  to  them-it  is  impossible  to  go 

Sunday  evening,  December  8,  1878.     Lesson  :  Psa.  Ixxvii. 


126  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

back  and  take  them  just  as  they  were  in  their  low  estate, 
and  not  to  a  great  extent  lessen  the  veneration  of  many  for 
them  ;  but  I  cannot  help  that.     It  must  be. 

I  closed  last  Sunday  evening's  discourse  with  an  account 
of  the  vision  that  came  to  Jacob  in  the  night.  In  that 
vision  his  name  was  changed,  and  whereas  he  had  been 
called  "  Jacob,"  after  that  he  was  called  ''  Israel."  "  Jacob  " 
signifies  a  Siipplanter  ;  and  "  Israel,"  ''  a  Sfriver,  or  Prevailer, 
or  Prince,  of  God.'"  Such  became  his  name  ;  and  from  this 
time  many  of  the  faults  of  Jacob  disappeared,  and  we  come, 
not  to  a  high  plane,  but  certainly  to  a  better  account  of 
him  than  in  anything  that  has  preceded.  It  was  time  for 
a  man  nearly  a  hundred  years  old  to  behave  ! 

We  had  proceeded  in  Jacob's  history  to  the  approach  of 
his  brother  Esau  to  meet  him,  with  his  men.  For,  tidings 
having  been  borne  to  Esau  that  Jacob  was  coming  back 
with  great  possessions,  Esau  started  out  to  meet  him  with 
a  band  of  four  hundred  men. 

The  generalship  which  Jacob  manifested  here  was  admi 
rable.  It  was  not  heroic,  but  it  was  in  accordance  with  his 
settled  character.  He  was  essentially  a  man  of  policy.  He 
had  not  a  single  element  of  the  heroic  in  his  nature. 
He  was  a  man  of  peace,  quietness,  and  good  management. 
He  was  sagacious,  far-sighted.  And  when  he  heard  that 
Esau  was  coming  out  to  meet  him,  being  greatly  afraid 
and  distressed,  lest  Esau  should  slaughter  him  and  his,  in 
revenge  for  the  past,  Jacob  sent  droves  of  sheep,  goatSj 
camels,  kine,  and  asses  before  him  as  so  many  presents  to 
"  my  lord  Esau,"  from  ''  thy  servant  Jacob." 

Then  he  divided  his  great  family.     Mark  the  order  ! 

"  He  divided  the  children  unto  Leah,  and  unto  Rachel,  and  unto  the  two 
handmaids.  And  he  put  the  handmaids  and  their  children  foremost,  and 
Leah  and  her  children  after,  and  Rachel  and  Joseph  hindermost." 

If  any  fury  was  to  burst  upon  anybody,  the  ones  he 
esteemed  least  should  get  the  first  blow.  Therefore  the 
two  handmaids  and  their  children  were  placed  foremost ; 
Leah,  the  wife  that  he  had  been  cheated  into  having,  and 
her  children  came  next  ;  and  Rachel,  who  was  the  one  on 


JACOB  AND  JOSEPH.  127 

whom  his  heart  always  rested,  his  dearly  beloved  Rachel, 
and  her  then  only  son,  Joseph,  came  last  of  all.  And  then 
''he  passed  over  before  them." 

The  brothers  meet.  Jacob  had  the  birthright  and  was 
the  superior  according  to  the  customs  of  that  age.  But  he 
"bowed  himself  to  the  ground  seven  times,  until  he  came 
near  to  his  brother." 

Whatever  Esau  might  have  thought  of  what  he  would 
do  when  he  met  Jacob  after  so  many  years  of  separation, 
his  now  venerable  brother,  not  taking  on  any  airs  of  supe- 
riority, nor  defying  him,  but  doing  the  most  reverent  and 
humiliating  obeisance  to  him — bowing  himself  once,  then 
coming  a  little  nearer  and  bowing  again  a  great  deal  lower, 
then  advancing  a  step  or  two  further  and  bowing  still 
again,  and  so  on  until  he  had  bowed  seven  times,  and  had 
come  almost  to  his  feet— disarmed  Esau's  bitterness  toward 
him,  if  he  had  any. 

I  cannot  help,  and  you  cannot  help,  feeling  a  great  deal 
more  sympathy  with  Esau  than  with  Jacob  ;  but  Jacob  for 
the  purposes  of  building  a  commonwealth  was  better  tim- 
ber than  Esau  ;  for  Esau  was  a  man  not  of  forethought, 
adapting  means  to  ends,  holding  to  them,  and  overruling 
his  feelings  by  his  judgment  :  he  was  a  man  of  impulse  ; 
and  his  primary  impulses  were  generally  strong.  When 
he  was  mad,  he  was  very  mad  ;  when  he  was  gay,  he  was 
•very  gay.  He  was  subject  to  circumstances,  and  according 
to  his  impulses  he  was  blown  hither  and  thither.  He  was 
well-fitted  to  be  the  head  of  nomadic  plundering  tribes, 
but  was  not  the  right  sort  of  a  man  to  found  a  nation  that 
was  to  be  built  up.  Yet,  for  dramatic  effect,  Esau  was  the 
finer  fellow.  He  was  bold,  dashing,  and  in  some  respects 
admirable. 

"  Esau  ran  to  meet  him  [Jacob],  and  embraced  him,  and  fell  on  his  neck, 
and  kissed  him  :  and  they  wept." 

Kissing,  in  the  old  times,  seems  to  have  been  connected 
with  tears  ! 

"And  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  saw  the  women  and  the  children;  and 
said,  Who  are  those  with  thee?    And  he  said,  The  children  which  God 


128  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

hath  graciously  given  thy  servant,  Then  the  handmaidens  came  near,  they 
and  their  children,  and  they  bowed  themselves.  And  Leah  also  with  her 
children  came  near,  and  bowed  themselves  ;  and  after  came  Joseph  near 
and  Rachel,  and  they  bowed  themselves." 

It  appears  that  Rachel  was  even  put  behind  Joseph  ;  she 
was  the  dearest  of  all. 

"And  Esau  said,  What  meanest  thou  by  all  this  drove  v.'hich  I  met  ?  " 

Now,  that  was  nature  ;  and  Jacob  had  a  quick  sense  of 
what  was  nature.  That  must  be  a  very  bad  man  who,  be- 
ing approached  by  reverential  women  and  by  little  chil- 
dren, can  resist  the  appeal  that  is  made  to  his  sympathy  ; 
and  when  it  is  made  in  connection  with  large  presents  of 
various  kinds  it  is  very  likely  to  come  near  to  the  heart  ; 
and  Jacob  did  not  mistake  human  nature  in  this  case  at  all. 
He  sent,  first,  the  cattle,  and  they  stood  around,  too  ;  and 
then  he  sent  the  women  in  climacteric  succession,  and  the 
little  children  ;  and  it  touched  the  heart  of  Esau,  and  his 
first  impulse  was  very  generous. 

"What  meanest  thou  by  all  this  drove  which  I  met.''  And  Jacob  said. 
These  are  to  find  grace  in  the  sight  of  my  lord.  And  Esau  said,  I  have 
enough,  my  brother  ;  keep  that  thou  hast  unto  thyself." 

Still  he  was  not  insensible  to  entreaty. 

"And  Jacob  said,  Nay,  I  pray  thee,  if  now  I  have  found  grace  in  tny 
sight,  then  receive  my  present  at  my  hand :  for  as  much  as  I  have  seen  thy 
face,  as  though  I  had  seen  the  face  of  God,  and  thou  wast  pleased  with  me." 

It  was  very  well  that  he  had  no  pride  that  choked  him. 

You  and  I  could  not  have  said  that,  and  been  sincere.     For 

him  to  make  up  with  his  brother  with  the  compliment  that 

he  was  as  a  god  to  him  was  carrying  humility  to  the  extreme. 

"  Take,  I  pray  thee,  my  blessing  that  is  brought  to  thee  ;  because  God 
hath  dealt  graciously  with  me,  and  because  I  have  enough.  And  he  urged 
him,  and  Esau  took  it." 

Jacob  did  not  misjudge  in  that  point,  either. 

Now  Esau,  when  he  was  at  his  best,  when  his  best  affec- 
tions were  uppermost,  was  a  very  pleasant  brother  ;  but 
Jacob  knew  him  too  well  to  think  it  worth  while  to  spend 
many  days   with  him.     The   weather    might   change.     So' 
when,  in  the  first  gush  of  brotherly  recognition  and  affilia- 


JACOB  AND  JOSEPH.  1 29 

tion,  Esau  said,  "  Let  us  take  our  journey,  and  let  us  go, 
and  I  will  go  before  thee,"  Jacob  said  to  him  : — 

"  My  lord  knoweth  that  the  children  are  tender,  and  the  flocks  and  herds 
with  young  are  with  me  :  and  if  men  should  overdrive  them  one  day,  all  the 
flock  will  die." 

That  was  good  shepherd-sense. 

"  Let  my  lord,  I  pray  thee,  pass  over  before  his  servant :  and  I  will  lead 
on  softly,  according  as  the  cattle  that  goeth  before  me  and  the  children  be 
able  to  endure,  until  I  come  unto  my  lord  unto  Seir," 

There,  too,  was  a  dexterous  and  rare  stroke  of  policy.  It 
was  a  timely  thing  for  Jacob  to  say  then. 

"And  Esau  said,  Let  me  now  leave  with  thee  some  of  the  folk  that  are 
with  me.  And  he  said,  What  needeth  it .-'  let  me  find  grace  in  the  sight  of 
my  lord." 

Here  was  Esau,  that  had  submitted  to  a  very  disgrace- 
ful series  of  cheatings  and  conspiracies  on  the  part  of  Jacob 
to  obtain  supremacy  and  secure  rights  of  primogeniture. 
After  an  absence  of  twenty  3^ears  Jacob  returns,  and,  fear- 
ing his  brother's  anger,  he  humbles  himself  to  that  mode 
of  address.  But  this  is  to  be  said:  In  Oriental  countries 
a  great  deal  of  such  ceremoniousness  does  not  mean  any 
more  than  you  mean  w^ien  you  say  "Good-bye."  Inter- 
preted, it  is,  God  be  with  you  ;  but  you  never  think  of  that. 
"Good-bye,"  "  How  do  you  do  ? "  and  Good  morning," 
are  modes  of  address  which,  if  filled  out  with  their  primi- 
tive meaning,  would  have  a  very  weighty  significance  ;  but 
as  they  are  ordinarily  employed  they  signify  very  little  ; 
and  much  of  Oriental  address  is  to  be  set  down  simply  as 
belonging  to  the  manners  of  the  race.  Even  down  to  the 
present  day  Oriental  salutations  by  the  way  are  burden- 
somely,  and  indeed  absurdly,  ceremonious.  Nevertheless, 
the  attitude  of  Jacob  before  Esau,  as  I  have  said,  was  ex- 
tremely politic,  and  not  at  all  heroic, 

"  So  Esau  returned  that  day  on  his  way  unto  Seir  ;  and  Jacob  journeyed 
to  Succoth,  and  built  him  an  house,  and  made  booths  [corrals,  I  suppose ; 
fences  that  they  might  be  saved  from  wild  beasts,  or  plundering  Arabs]  for 
his  cattle." 

How  long  Jacob  lived  there  is  uncertain— probably  not 
9 


I30 


BIBLE  STUDIES. 


less  than  five  or  six  years.     It  may  have  been    ten    years. 
We  have  no  definite  knowledge  on  this  point. 

"  And  Jacob  came  to  Shalem,  a  city  of  Shechem,  which  is  in  the  land 
of  Canaan,  when  he  came  from  Padan  aram;  and  pitched  his  tent  be- 
fore the  city.  And  he  bought  a  parcel  of  a  field,  where  he  had  spread 
his  tent,  at  the  hand  of  the  children  of  Hamor,  Shechem's  father,  for  an 
liundred  pieces  of  money.  And  he  erected  there  an  altar,  and  called  it 
El-elohe-Israel  [God,  the  God  of  Israel]." 

At  this  point  there  comes  in  a  view  of  the  social  condi- 
tion that  surrounded  Jacob.  The  thirty-fourth  chapter 
contains,  what  I  shall  niot  read,  an  account  of  the  conduct 
of  his  sons  toward  the  Shechemites  or  the  Hivite  commu- 
nity. The  Hivites  were  decendants  of  Noah.  They  are 
called  Midlanders,  but  I  think  they  might  more  properly 
be  called  villagers,  as  they  lived  in  a  town.  It  seems  that 
Jacob  had  but  a  single  daughter,  Dinah  ;  and,  according 
to  the  loose  manners  that  prevailed  in  that  age,  the  oldest 
son  of  the  king,  seeing  her,  wooed  her  w4th  unwilling  con- 
sent, and,  loving  her,  desired  that  she  should  be  affianced 
to  him,  and  sought  at  the  hands  of  Jacob  permission  to 
pay  a  large  dowry  and  make  her  his  accredited  wife  ;  but 
as  he  had  put  shame  upon  her,  the  brothers  felt  it  to  be  an 
outrage' against  their  family.  Their  only  sister  had  been 
humbled  ;  and  although  it  w-as  proposed  to  give  her  hon- 
orable wedlock, — to  make  her,  as  it  were,  a  ruler  in  the 
land, — they  utterly  refused  it.  The}"  howe^;er  pretended 
that  if  the  w^hole  city  would  submit  to  the  Abrahamic  rite 
of  circumcision,  so  as  to  become  members  of  the  house  of 
Israel,  they  w^ould  consent.  Strangely  enough,  according 
to  the  narrative,  these  conditions  were  complied  with  by 
the  entire  community;  but  then,  selecting  the  most  favor- 
able time,  the  brothers,  with  their  servants,  fell  upon  them 
and  completely  destroyed  the  inhabitants  of  the  city,  ex- 
cept the  women  and  children. 

Jacob  himself  was  thoroughly  indignant ;  the  outrage  he 
never  could  forget;  but  he  was  politic,  and  he  did  not  in- 
terfere; he  raised  no  difficulty;  and  when  became  to  speak 
of  it  you  will  observe  that  he  said  to  Simeon  and  Levi ; — 


JACOB  AXD  JOSEPH.  1 31 

"  Ye  have  troubled  me  to  make  me  to  stink  among  the  inhabitants  of  the 
land,  among  the  Canaanites  and  the  Perizzites  :  and  I  being  few  in  number 
they  shall  gather  themselves  together  against  me,  and  slay  me ;  and  I  shall 
be  destroyed,  I  and  my  house." 

They  defended  themselves,  saying,  "  Should  he  deal  with 
our  sister  as  with  an  harlot  ?  " 

They  stood  for  the  moment  on  higher  ground  than  he 
•  did.  The  outrage  to  Dinah  had  been  an  indignity  to  the 
whole  household,  and  they  justified  their  revenge  for  this 
natural  reason  ;  but  all  Jacob  thought  of  was  its  inexpe- 
diency. He  feared  that  it  would  array  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  land  against  him  and  his  people. 

He  now  journeyed  from  that  neighborhood,  thinking  it 
convenient  to  get  away  from  there,  and  went'  to  see  his 
father  Isaac,  who  was  still  alive. 

"And  God  said  unto  Jacob,  Arise,  go  up  to  Beth-el.'" 

To  this,  and  more  in  the  same  connection,  I  shall  recur. 
Isaac,  we  do  not  know  how  many  years  afterwards,  dies, 
and  Esau  comes  from  the  south, — from  Mount  Seir,  or  that 
region, — and  he  and  Jacob  go  and  bury  their  father  with 
Abraham,  in  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  in  the  southern  part  of 
Judea,  where  still  later  Jacob  himself  was  buried. 

Before  closing  the  history  of  Jacob,  we  will  interpose  an 
intermediate  history.  In  order  to  that,  it  is  necessary  that 
you  should  have  a  larger  view  of  the  precise  state  of  things. 

From  Abraham  to  Jacob  not  one  solitary  step,  appar- 
ently, had  been  taken  toward  civilization.  What  Abraham 
was,  that  Isaac  was,  only  weaker  ;  and  what  Isaac  was  that 
Jacob  was,  a  little  more  spread  out.  They  were  dwellers 
in  tents — shepherds.  They  built  no  cities.  The  construct- 
ive talent  was  not  with  them.  They  did  not  develop 
husbandry.  They  were  not  tillers  of  the  soil.  Tliey  car- 
ried on  no  commerce.  They  did  not  buy  and  sell  except 
at  home  and  in  the  most  limited  sphere.  Their  business 
was  in  the  fields,  tending  flocks.  They  had  no  literature, 
no  books,  no  papers,  no  memorials  or  monuments  with  the 
exception  of  rude  stones  cast  up  upon  occasion.  There  is 
no  evidence  that  one  of  the  patriarchs  ever  put  liis  foot 


132 


BIBLE  STUDIES. 


across  a  threshold.  They  lived  out  of  doors,  or  in  tents. 
What  we  call  the  fine  arts  were  unknown  to  them.  There 
was  no  formulated  religion,  there  was  no  religious  service 
of  any  kind,  there  was  no  domestic  policy,  there  was  no 
instruction  in  the  household  or  outside  of  the  household, 
by  priest  or  prophet,  down  to  the  time  of  Jacob's  death. 
If  you  would  know  what  was  the  interior  condition  of  the 
household  after  Jacob  had  reached  the  age  of  over  a  hun- 
dred years,  read  the  account  contained  in  the  thirty-fifth 
chapter  of  Genesis. 

"  God  said  unto  Jacob,  Arise,  go  up  to  Beth-el,  and  dwell  there  :  and  make 
there  an  altar  unto  God,  that  appeared  unto  thee  when  thou  fleddest  from 
the  face  of  Esau  thy  brother.  Then  Jacob  said  unto  his  household,  and 
to  all  that  were  with  him.  Put  away  the  strange  gods  that  are  among  you, 
and  be  clean,  and  change  your  garments." 

It  seems  that  while  this  patriarch  believed  in  the  true 
God  his  multiform  household  were  going  to  take  with 
them  their  own  idols,  and  continue  their  superstitious 
idolatry. 

"  Let  us  arise  and  go  up  to  Beth-el ;  and  I  will  make  there  an  altar  unto 
God,  who  answered  me  in  the  day  of  my  distress,  and  was  with  me  in  the 
way  which  I  went.  And  they  gave  unto  Jacob  all  the  strange  gods  which 
were  in  their  hand,  and  all  their  earrings  which  were  in  their  ears ;  and 
Jacob  hid  them  under  the  oak,  which  was  by  Shechem.  And  they  jour- 
neyed." 

Up  to  this  time,  in  the  life  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 
the  condition  of  the  household,  and  their,  patriarchal  con- 
dition, might  have  been  described  by  the  simple  term, 
nothing.  And  yet,  here  was  the  ^%%  that  was  to  be  the 
eagle. 

Now  some  other  influences  must  come  in  ;  for,  if  there 
was  to  be  no  other  influence  except  that  of  father  and  son 
in  the  shepherd  life — unless  there  had  been  some  interrup- 
tion, some  inoculation,  some  dislocation — they  would  have 
been  Arab  Bedouins  to  this  hour  :  there  could  never  have 
been  any  growth  through  pastoral  life.  The  life  of  hunt- 
ing is  the  lowest,  and  as  long  as  that  prevailed  there  could, 
be  no  improvement  among  the  people.  Our  Indians  can 
never  be  improved  as  long  as  they  remain  hunters.     The 


.  JACOB  AXD  JOSEPH.  1 33 

first  step  from  hunting  is  pastoral  life.  When  men  depend 
upon  gaining  their  food  by  hunting,  pastoral  life  is  impos- 
sible to  them.  They  cannot  thus  lay  foundations  of  per- 
manence. There  must  always  be  one  step  beyond  that 
before  there  can  be  great  improvement — namely,  that  of 
agriculture,  or  husbandry.  And  it  is  not  until  that  is  sup- 
plemented by  manufacturing  that  civilization  begins  to 
develop.  When  upon  manufacturing  there  come  construct- 
ive improvements,  then  the  necessity  of  commerce  enters 
in.  Agriculture,  manufacturing,  and  commerce  are  the 
three  elements  through  which  God  has  conducted  the  hu- 
man family,  and  developed  their  social  and  moral  nature. 
Such  an  education  did  not  come  in  the  patriarchal  period  ; 
but  it  came  through  the  mediation  of  Joseph.  The  history 
of  Joseph,  which  is  one  of  the  most  exquisite  of  dramas  or 
stories  ever  read,  was  the  first  step  of  civilization  ;  and 
without  speaking  of  the  later  years  of  Jacob  to-night,  I  shall 
run  briefly  through  this  story  or  history, 

Egypt,  at  this  time,  was  the  only  civilized  nation  of  the 
world.  Not  only  was  there  not  another,  but  there  never 
had  been.  It  was  before  the  era  of  semi-civilization  in 
China.  It  was  earlier  than  the  civilization  that  existed 
under  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  emperors.  There  was  on 
the  globe  but  one  nation  that  had  institutions  and  civiliza- 
tion ;  and  it  was  necessary  to  send  the  shepherds  to  school 
to  that  nation.  The  question  was,  How  were  they  to  be 
sent  ?  On  this  subject  there  seems  to  have  been  no  divine 
communication,  no  command  of  God,  no  conviction,  in  the 
mind  of  the  patriarch  ;  but,  as  shown  by  the  history, 
the  firstborn  of  Rachel's  children,  next  to  the  last  of  tlie 
sons  of  Jacob,  Benjamin  coming  after,  was  to  be  the  instru- 
ment by  which  it  was  to  be  accomplished.  We  cannot 
trace  the  whole  as  it  actually  occurred.  We  can  only 
glance  at  it  through  the  incomplete  but  vivid  sketches  that 
remain  to  us. 

Rachel  had  died.  In  the  thirty-fifth  chapter  of  Genesis, 
at  the  sixteen  subsequent  verses,  is  an  account  of  her  death. 
It  is  matchless  for  its  natural  simplicity  and  depth, 


134  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

"And  they  journeyed  from  Betli-el ;  and  there  was  but  a  little  way  to  come 
to  Ephrath  :  and  Rachel  travailed,  and  she  had  hard  labor.  And  it  came 
to  pass,  when  she  was  in  hard  labor,  that  the  midwife  said  unto  her,  Fear 
not ;  thou  shalt  have  this  son  also.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  her  soul  was 
in  departing  [for  she  died],  that  she  called  his  name  Ben-oni  [Son  of  my 
Sorrow] :  but  his  father  called  him  Benjamin  [Son  of  the  Right  Hand].  And 
Rachel  died,  and  v;as  buried  in  the  way  to  Ephrath,  which  is  Beth-lehem. 
And  Jacob  set  a  pillar  upon  her  grave  :  that  is  the  pillar  of  Rachel's  grave 
unto  this  day." 

You  will  recollect,  if  you  enter  into  the  full  poetic  power 
of  this  scene,  that  when  Herod  destroyed  the  children, 
after  hearing  from  the  wise  men,  it  was  said  that  there  was 
"a  voice  heard  and  lamentation  and  weeping,  and  great 
mourning,  Rachel  weeping  for  her  children,  and  would  not 
be  comforted,  because  they  were  not."  Rachel  is  regarded 
as  the  mother  of  Israel,  and  the  figure  was  that  when  those 
children  were  slaughtered  in  Bethlehem,  the  very  mother- 
form  of  Rachel  rose  out  of  her  grave,  which  v/as  in  that 
neighborhood,  and  that  her  voice  Vv^as  heard  in  lamen- 
tation. Benjamin  was  the  youngest  son,  born  at  the  ex- 
pense of  her  life.  Joseph  was  about  seventeen  years  old 
at  this  time.  He  was  apparently  the  only  pure  and  sweet 
nature  in  the  whole  twelve  sons.  What  the  other  sons 
were  is  detailed  in  the  recorded  history.  The  terrible 
curse  that  Jacob  pronounced  against  them  on  his  death- 
bed, his  judgment  upon  them,  was  a  revelation  of  their 
nature,  which  was  hard,  coarse,  cruel,  and  avaricious. 
Such  were  the  tw^elve  heads  of  the  twelve  tribes. 

Joseph,  being  yet  too  young  to  become  a  servitor  of  his 
father's  property,  was  sent  with  some  other  sons  to  assist. 
It  appears  that  Jacob  regarded  him  with  special  tender- 
ness because  he  was  the  son  of  his  old  age.  It  is  said  that 
"he  made  him  a  coat  of  many  colors" — which  is  a  bad 
rendering.  He  made  him  a  mantle  which  indicated  rank, 
and  made  it  long  so  that  it  reached  down  to  the  ankles, 
with  sleeves  that  extended  to  the  wrists.  It  was  a  mantle 
which  represented  a  certain  condition.  "When  his  brethren 
sawthattheir  father  loved  him  more  than  all  his  brethren 
they  hated  him,  and  could  not  speak  peaceably  unto  him." 


JACOB  AND  JOSEPH.  135 

Things  were  not  bettered  when  Joseph,  seeing  their 
abomination,  went  back  and  told  tales  of  them  ;  and  to 
make  things  worse,  he  had  two  unlucky  dreams. 

"And  he  said  unto  them,  Hear,  I  pray  you,  this  dream  which  I  have 
dreamed:  for,  behold,  we  were  binding  sheaves  in  the  field,  and,  lo,  my 
sheaf  arose,  and  also  stood  upright ;  and,  behold,  your  sheaves  stood  round 
about,  and  made  obeisance  to  my  sheaf.  And  his  brethren  said  to  him, 
Shalt  thou  indeed  reign  over  us  ?  or  shalt  thou  indeed  have  dominion  over 
us  ?     And  they  hated  him  yet  the  more  for  his  dreams,  and  for  his  words." 

He  got  himself  into  trouble  with  his  father,  too. 

"And  he  dreamed  yet  another  dream,  and  told  it  his  brethren,  and  said, 
Behold,  I  have  dreamed  a  dream  more ;  and,  behold,  the  sun  and  the  moon 
and  the  eleven  stars  made  obeisance  to  me." 

That  was  a  high-flying  dream.  It  made  such  an  impres- 
sion on  him  that  he  went  home  and  told  it  to  his  father, 
and  his  father  rebuked  him,  and  said  unto  him  : — 

"  What  is  this  dream  that  thou  hast  dreamed .-'  Shall  I  and  thy  mother 
and  thy  brethren  indeed  come  to  bow  down  ourselves  to  thee  to  the  earth  .' 
And  his  brethren  envied  him  ;  but  his  father  observed  the  saying." 

Although  the  old  father  had  thought  it  fit  to  rebuke 
Joseph,  he  rather  liked  the  saying.  There  was  something 
in  the  flavor  of  it  which  pleased  his  parental  love. 

Now,  upon  this  state  of  facts,  Joseph  was  sent  by  his 
father  to  look  out  for  his  brethren.  He  went  to  report 
their  progress.  When  they  saw  him  coming  their  ill-will 
broke  out,  and  they  said,  one  to  another, — 

"  Behold,  this  dreamer  cometh.  Come  now,  therefore,  and  let  us  slay 
him." 

They  had  probably  had  a  conference  on  the  subject  be- 
fore, and  the  time  seemed  to  be  at  hand  when  they  could 
avenge  themselves.  Reuben,  the  oldest,  interposed.  Being 
the  firstborn,  he  had  the  general  responsibility  of  the  brood 
of  brothers  — and  a  precious  brood  they  were  !  He  said, 
"Shed  no  blood,  but  cast  him  into  this  pit  that  is  in  the 
wilderness." 

There  were  many  pits,  caves,  fissures,  cracks,  in  that  lime- 
stone country,  and  Reuben  advised  putting  Joseph  in  one 
of  them— for  he  meant  to  rescue  him,  and  deliver  him  to 


136  ^  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

his  father.  So  Joseph  was  put  in  a  pit  by  his  brethren, 
and  they  sat  down  to  their  meal,  and  Judah,  the  next,  inter- 
posed and  said  : — 

"  What  profit  is  it  if  we  slay  our  brother,  and  conceal  his  blood  ?  Come, 
and  let  us  sell  him  to  the  Ishmaelites,  and  let  not  our  hand  be  upon  him ;  for 
he  is  our  brother  and  our  flesh." 

He  was  too  precious  to  leave  to  perish  in  the  pit,  and  see- 
ing a  band  of  merchants,  Ishmaelitish  traders,  coming,  they 
sold  him  to  them.  In  those  days  merchants  or  traders 
took  caravans  down  through  the  southern  towns  and  vil- 
lages, and  bought  anything  or  sold  anything  if  thereby 
they  could  make  money  ;  and  these  Ishmaelites  bought 
Joseph  from  his  brethren  for  twenty  pieces  of  silver. 

"And  Reuben  returned  unto  the  pit ;  and,  behold,  Joseph  was  not  in  the 
pit;  and  he  rent  his  clothes.  And  he  returned  unto  his  brethren,  and  said, 
The  child  is  not ;  and  I,  whither  shall  I  go  .^ " 

What  account  should  he  give  to  his  father  ?  A  touch  of 
nature  and  of  gentleness  ! 

"And  they  took  Joseph's  coat,  and  killed  a  kid  of  the  goats,  and  dipped 
the  coat  in  the  blood;  and  they  sent  the  coat  of  many  colors,  and  they 
brought  it  to  their  father ;  and  said.  This  have  we  found :  know  now 
whether  it  be  thy  son's  coat  or  no.  And  he  knew  it,  and  said,  It  is  my 
son's  coat;'  an  evil  beast  hath  devoured  him  ;  Joseph  is  without  doubt  rent 
in  pieces.  And  Jacob  rent  his  clothes,  and  put  sackcloth  upon  his  loins, 
and  mourned  for  his  son  many  days.  And  all  his  sons  and  all  his  daughters 
rose  up  to  comfort  him ;  but  he  refused  to  be  comforted ;  and  he  said.  For  I 
will  go  down  into  the  grave  unto  my  son  mourning.  Thus  his  father  v.'ept 
for  him.  And  the  Midianites  sold  him  into  Egypt  unto  Potiphar,  an  officer 
of  Pharaoh's,  and  captain  of  the  guard." 

So,  Strangely  enough,  circuitously,  and  by  an  unexpected 
course, of  events,  the  first  steps  were  taken  by  which  the 
Israelitish  people  were  to  build  up  a  national  life. 

The  history  goes  on  to  show  that  Joseph's  wisdom  and 
sagacity  were  appreciated.  Passing  by  some  sad  scenes  in 
the  life  of  Judah,  which  are  scarcely  proper  to  read  in  pub- 
lic but  which  are  invaluable  as  a  part  of  the  recorded 
history  of  this  people  in  their  uncivilized  and  early  condi- 
tion, we  come  to  the  selling  of  Joseph  by  the  Ishmaelites 
to  Potiphar,  the  captain  of  Pharaoh's  guard. 


JACOB  AND  JOSEPH.  137 

"And  his  master  saw  that  the  Lord  was  with  him,  and  that  the  Lord  made 
all  that  he  did  to  prosper  in  his  hand.  And  Joseph  found  grace  in  his 
sight,  and  he  served  him  :  and  he  made  him  overseer  over  his  house,  and  all 
that  he  had  he  put  into  his  hand." 

Potiphar's  wife,  a  sensuous  and  corrupt  woman,  looked 
upon  Joseph  with  eyes  of  solicitation,  and  sought  to  win 
him  to  her  pleasure,  which  he  resisted,  because  it  would  be 
both  an  evil  recompense  for  the  confidence  his  master  re- 
posed in  him  and  a  sin  against  God  ;  and  in  that  age  and 
under  those  circumstances  it  was  a  trait  of  heroism  which 
I  think  marked  Joseph  as  one  of  the  first  in  this  long  and 
remarkable  line,  that  had  reached  the  ground  of  high 
moral  principle.  The  woman  turned  upon  him  in  her 
anger,  and  slandered  him  to  her  husband,  who,  believing 
his  wife,  threw  Joseph  into  prison.  There  for  a  time  he 
remained  in  disgrace  ;  but  as  it  was  known  that  he  had 
interpreted  certain  dreams,  and  that  the  interpretations 
came  out  right,  Pharaoh,  who  had  dreams  also  (where 
men  have  not  a  great  deal  of  knowledge  they  always  have 
a  good  many  dreams),  called  Joseph  to  interpret  his  dreams  ; 
and  the  interpretation  came  out  right ;  and  he  was  re- 
warded by  being  made  a  grand  leader,  next  to  Pharaoh 
himself. 

Foreseeing  years  of  famine,  Joseph  advised  his  monarch, 
Pharaoh,  to  build  houses,  and  collect  the  surplus  of  the 
food  in  the  land,  and  store  it  up.  Then  came  the  seven 
years  of  famine,  and  the  people,  soon  exhausting  their 
slender  savings,  began  to  be  in  want,  and  applied  to  their 
parental  head,  Pharaoh,  for  relief  ;  and  he  turned  them 
over  to  Joseph.  And  what  did  Joseph  do  ?  Had  he  any 
sense  of  right  and  justice  toward  the  men,  women,  and 
children  who  appealed  to  him  ?  Not  at  all.  Upright  and 
just,  as  we  have  seen  him  to  be,  he  was  of  his  age,  and 
looked  upon  the  people  as  slaves  or  cattle.  He  sold  them 
corn.  They  bought,  as  long  as  their  money  held  out  ;  then 
they  sold  cattle  to  him  for  corn  ;  and  then  their  lands  ;  and 
at  last  offered  themselves  as  slaves,  and  he  took  possession 
of  all  these  hungry,  starving  creatures.     So,  under  his  ad- 


138  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

vice,  the  whole  property  and  population  of  the  land  were 
brought  into  bondage  to  the  royal  family, 

I  need  not  say  how  this  looks  to  us  now.  It  did  not 
look  so  to  him  then.  At  that  time  the  ideas  were  not  born 
which  in  our  day  we  are  proud  of,  and  on  which  our  pros- 
perity rests.  This  history  is  of  a  man,  and  of  a  man  stand- 
ing high  on  moral  principle,  but  living  in  a  period  before 
the  true  inspiration  of  the  race  had  developed  those  lofty 
conceptions  of  the  value  of  the  individual  man  and  of  the 
rights  of  the  people  which  prevail  in  the  present  age  of 
civilization. 

It  came  to  pass  while  Joseph  was  thus  engaged,  that  the 
famine — before  it  had  driven  the  whole  body  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Egypt  into  the  snare  and  toils  of  the  royal  family, 
but  while  yet  the  Egyptian  granaries  were  full — reached 
northward,  or  northeastward,  and  was  felt  in  Palestine  ; 
and  it  was  determined  to  send  down  to  Egypt  for  corn. 
So  Joseph's  brethren  went  down.  I  do  not  know  as  I  can 
read  all  of  this.  I  never  did  succeed  in  reading  the  whole 
of  Joseph's  life  without  having  my  voice  stagger  a  good 
deal. 

"  And  Joseph's  ten  brethren  went  down  to  buy  corn  in  Egypt,  But 
Benjamin i  Joseph's  brother,  Jacob  sent  not  with  his  brethren;  for  he  said. 
Lest  peradventure  mischief  befall  him.  And  the  sons  of  Israel  came  to  buy 
corn  amonj^  those  that  came  :  for  the  famine  was  in  the  land  of  Canaan. 

"And  Joseph  was  the  governor  over  the  land,  and  he  it  was  that  sold  to 
all  the  people  of  the  land  :  and  Joseph's  brethren  came,  and  bowed  down 
themselves  before  him  with  their  faces  to  the  earth.  And  Joseph  saw  his 
brethren,  he  knew  them,  but  made  himself  strange  unto  them,  and  spake 
roughly  unto  them  ;  and  he  said  unto  them,  Whence  come  ye .''  And  they 
said,  From  the  land  of  Canaan  to  buy  food.  And  Joseph  knew  his  breth- 
ren, but -they  knew  not  him.  And  Joseph  remembered  the  dreams  which 
he  dreamed  of  them,  and  said  unto  them.  Ye  are  spies ;  to  see  the  naked- 
ness of  the  land  ye  are  come.  And  they  said  unto  him.  Nay,  my  lord,  but 
to  buy  food  are  thy  servants  come.  We  are  all  one  man's  sons ;  we  are  true 
men,  thy  servants  are  no  spies.  And  he  said  unto  them,  Nay,  but  to  see  the 
nakedness  of  the  land  ye  are  come.  And  they  said,  Thy  servants  are  twelve 
brethren,  the  sons  of  one  man  in  the  land  of  Canaan  ;  and,  behold,  the 
youngest  is  this  day  with  our  father,  and  one  is  not.  And  Joseph  said  unto 
them.  That  is  it  that  I  spake  unto  you,  saying.  Ye  are  spies  :  hereby  ye 
shall  be  proved  :  by  the  life  of  Pharaoh  ye  shall  not  go  forth  hence,  except 


JACOB  AND  JOSEPH.  139 

your  youngest  brother  come  hither.  Send  one  of  you,  and  let  him  fetch 
your  brother,  and  ye  shall  be  kept  in  prison,  that  your  words  may  be  proved, 
whether  there  be  any  truth  in  you :  or  else  by  the  life  of  Pharaoh  surelv  ve 
are  spies.     And  he  put  them  all  together  into  ward  three  days. 

"And  Joseph  said  unto  them  the  third  day.  This  do  and  live ;  for  I  fear 
God  :  If  ye  be  true  men,  let  one  of  your  brethren  be  bound  in  the  house  of 
your  prison  :  go  ye,  cai'ry  corn  for  the  famine  of  your  houses :  but  bring 
your  youngest  brother  unto  me  ;  so  shall  your  words  be  verified,  and  ye 
shall  not  die.     And  they  did  so." 

Now  comes  the  after  part  of  the  brutality  of  these  men. 

"And  they  said  one  to  another.  We  are  verily  guilty  concerning  our 
brother,  in  that  we  saw  the  anguish  of  his  soul,  when  he  besought  us,  and 
we  would  not  hear  ;  therefore  is  this  distress  come  upon  us." 

Thousands  of  men,  in  the  midst  of  their  wickedness, 
have  no  conscience  at  all,  but  when  they  are  caught,  and 
the  legitimate  results  of  wrongdoing  begin  to  distill  fear 
on  them,  that  rouses  conscience  in  them  ;  and  they  see  the 
nature  of  cause  and  effect. 

"And  Reuben  answered  them,  saying.  Spake  I  not  unto  you,  saying.  Do 
not  sin  against  the  child ;  and  ye  would  not  hear  ?  therefore,  behold,  also 
his  blood  is  required.  And  they  knew  not  that  Joseph  understood  them  ; 
for  he  spake  unto  them  by  an  interpreter.  And  he  turned  himself  about 
from  them,  and  wept ;  and  returned  to  them  again,  and  communed  with 
them,  and  took  from  them  Simeon,  and  bound  him  before  their  eyes.  Then 
Joseph  commanded  to  fill  their  sacks  with  corn,  and  to  restore  every  man's 
money  into  his  sack,  and  to  give  them  provision  for  the  way  :  and  thus  did 
he  unto  them.  And  they  laded  their  asses  with  the  corn,  and  departed 
thence.  And  as  one  of  them  opened  his  sack  to  give  his  ass  provender  in 
the  inn,  he  espied  his  money ;  for,  behold,  it  was  in  his  sack's  mouth.  And 
he  said  unto  his  brethren.  My  money  is  restored ;  and,  lo,  it  is  even  in  my 
sack;  and  their  heart  failed  them,  and  they  were  afraid,  saying  one  to 
another.  What  is  this  that  God  hath  done  unto  us  ? " 

They  went  back  to  their  father,  Jacob,  and  gave  him  an 
account  of  their  treatment,  telling  him  that  they  had  been 
severely  handled. 

"  The  man,  who  is  the  lord  of  the  land,  spake  roughly  to  us,  and  took  us 
for  spies  of  the  country.  And  we  said  unto  him.  We  are  true  men  ;  we  are 
no  spies:  we  be  twelve  brethren,  sons  of  our  father;  one  is  not,  and  the 
youngest  is  this  day  with  our  father  in  the  land  of  Canaan.  And  the  man, 
the  lord  of  the  country,  said  unto  us,  Hereby  shall  I  know  that  ye  are  true 
men  ;  leave  one  of  your  brethren  here  with  me,  and  take  food  for  the  fam- 
ine of  your  households,  and  be  gone  :    and  bring  your  youngest  brother 


I40  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

unto  me  :  then  shall  I  know  that  ye  are  no  spies,  but  that  ye  are  true  men  : 
so  will  I  deliver  you  your  brother,  and  ye  shall  traffic  in  the  land." 

They  give  their  father  an  account,  also,  of  their  finding 
in  their  sacks  the  money  that  they  had  paid. 

"And  Jacob  their  father  said  unto  them.  Me  have  ye  bereaved  of  my 
children:  Joseph  is  not,  and  Simeon  is  not,  and  ye  will  take  Benjamin 
away:  all  these  things  are  against  me.  And  Reuben  spake  unto  his  father, 
saying.  Slay  my  two  sons,  if  I  bring  him  not  to  thee :  deliver  him  into  my 
hand,  and  I  will  bring  him  to  thee  again.  And  he  said.  My  son  shall  not 
go  down  with  you  ;  for  his  brother  is  dead,  and  he  is  left  alone :  if  mischief 
befall  him  by  the  way  in  the  which  ye  go,  then  shall  ye  bring  down  my  gray 
hairs  with  sorrow  to  the  grave."' 

Whatever  else  Jacob  was,  or  was  not,  he  was  a  father. 
So  they  abode  at  home.  But  the  famine  continued,  and 
pressed  them,  so  that  the  father  told  them  to  go  down  again 
to  Egypt  for  food.  They  replied  that  they  could  not  go 
without  Benjamin. 

"And  Israel  said.  Wherefore  dealt  ye  so  ill  v/ith  me,  as  to  tell  the  man 
whether  ye  had  yet  a  brother  ?  And  they  said,  The  man  asked  us  straitly 
of  our  state,  and  of  our  kindred,  saying.  Is  your  father  yet  alive  ?  have  ye 
another  brother?  and  we  told  him  according  to  the  tenor  of  his  words : 
could  we  certainly  know  that  he  would  say.  Bring  your  brother  down? 

"And  Judah  said  unto  Israel  his  father.  Send  the  lad  with  me,  and  we 
will  arise  and  go;  that  we  may  live,  and  not  die,  both  we,  and  thou,  and  also 
our  little  ones.  I  will  be  surety  for  him ;  of  my  hand  shalt  thou  require 
him  :  if  I  bring  him  not  unto  thee,  and  set  him  before  thee,  then  let  me  bear 
the  blame  forever  :  for  except  we  had  lingered,  surely  now  we  had  returned 
this  second  time. 

"And  their  father  Israel  said  unto  them,  If  it  must  be  so  now,  do  this  ; 
take  of  the  best  fruits  in  the  land  in  your  vessels,  and  carry  down  the  man 
a  present,  a  little  balm,  and  a  little  honey,  spices,  and  myrrh,  nuts,  and 
almonds  :  and  take  double  money  in  your  hand  ;  and  the  money  that  was 
brought  again  in  the  mouth  of  your  sacks,  carry  it  again  in  your  hand  ;  per- 
adventure-it  was  an  oversight:  take  also  your  brother,  and  arise,  go  again 
unto  the  man  :  and  God  Almighty  give  you  mercy  before  the  man,  that  he 
may  send  away  your  other  brother,  and  Benjamin.  If  I  be  bereaved  of  my 
children,  I  am  bereaved. 

"And  the  men  took  that  present,  and  they  took  double  money  in  their 
hand,  and  Benjamin  ;  and  rose  up,  and  went  down  to  Egypt,  and  stood 
before  Joseph.  And  when  Joseph  saw  Benjamin  with  them,  he  said  to  the 
ruler  of  his  house.  Bring  these  men  home,  and  slay,  and  make  ready  ;  for 
these  men  shall  dine  with  me  at  noon.  And  the  man  did  as  Joseph  .bade  ; 
and  the  man  brought  the  men  into  Joseph's  house. 


JACOB  AND  JOSEPH.  141 

"And  the  men  were  afraid,  because  they  were  brought  into  Joseph's 
house  ;  and  they  said,  Because  of  the  money  that  was  returned  in  our  sacks 
at  the  first  time  are  we  brought  in ;  that  he  may  seek  occasion  against  us, 
and  fall  upon  us,  and  take  us  for  bondmen,  and  our  asses.  And  they  came 
near  to  the  steward  of  Joseph's  house,  and  they  communed  with  him  at  the 
door  of  the  house,  and  said,  O  sir,  we  came  indeed  down  at  the  first  time  to 
buy  food  :  and  it  came  to  pass,  when  we  came  to  the  inn,  that  we  opened 
our  sacks,  and,  behold,  every  man's  money  was  in  the  mouth  of  his  sack, 
our  money  in  full  weight :  and  we  have  brought  it  again  in  our  hand.  And 
other  money  have  we  brought  down  in  our  hands  to  buy  food  :  we  cannot 
tell  who  put  our  money  in  our  sacks.  And  he  said,  Peace  be  to  you,  fear 
not :  your  God,  and  the  God  of  your  father,  hath  given  you  treasure  in  your 
sacks :  I  had  your  money.     And  he  brought  Simeon  out  unto  them. 

"And  the  man  brought  the  men  into  Joseph's  house,  and  gave  them  water, 
and  they  washed  their  feet ;  and  he  gave  their  asses  provender.  And  they 
made  ready  the  present  against  Joseph  came  at  noon :  for  they  heard  that 
they  should  eat  bread  there. 

"And  when  Joseph  came  home,  they  brought  him  the  present  which  was 
in  their  hand  into  the  house,  and  bowed  themselves  to  him  to  the  earth. 
And  he  asked  them  of  their  welfare,  and  said.  Is  your  father  well,  the  old 
man  of  whom  ye  spake?  Is  he  yet  alive  ?  And  they  answered,  Thy  servant 
our  father  is  in  good  health,  he  is  yet  alive.  And  they  bowed  down  their 
heads,  and  made  obeisance.  And  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  saw  his  brother 
Benjamin,  his  mother's  son,  and  said.  Is  this  your  younger  brother,  of  whom 
ye  spake  unto  me  ?     And  he  said,  God  be  gracious  unto  thee,  my  son. 

"And  Joseph  made  haste;  for  his  bowels  did  yearn  upon  his  brother : 
and  he  sought  where  to  weep ;  and  he  entered  into  his  chamber,  and  wept 
there.  And  he  washed  his  face,  and  went  out,  and  refrained  himself,  and 
said.  Set  on  bread." 

Then  he  feasted  with  them,  taking  pains  to  pay  special 
attention  to  Benjamin,  to  see  if  there  lurked  toward  him 
the  same  animosity  he  had  experienced,  on  the  part  of  the 
brethren.     Then  he  sent  them  away. 

"And  lie  commanded  the  steward  of  his  house,  saying.  Fill  the  men's 
sacks  with  food,  as  much  as  they  can  carry,  and  put  every  man's  money  in 
his  sack's  mouth.  And  put  my  cup,  the  silver  cup,  in  the  sack's  mouth  of 
the  youngest,  and  his  corn  money.  And  he  did  according  to  the  word  that 
Joseph  had  spoken. 

"As  soon  as  the  morning  was  light,  the  men  were  sent  away,  they  and 
their  asses.  And  when  they  were  gone  out  of  the  city,  and  not  yet  far  off, 
Joseph  said  unto  his  steward.  Up,  follow  after  the  men ;  and  when  thou 
dost  overtake  them,  say  unto  them.  Wherefore  have  ye  rewarded  evil  for 
good  ?  Is  not  this  it  in  which  my  lord  drinketh,  and  whereby  indeed  he  divin- 
eth  ?  ye  have  done  evil  in  so  doing. 


142  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

"And  he  overtook  them,  and  he  spake  unto  them  these  same  words. 
And  they  said  unto  him,  \Yherefore  saith  my  lord  these  words?  God  for- 
bid that  thy  servants  should  do  according  to  this  thing.  Behold,  the  money 
which  we  found  in  our  sacks'  mouth  we  brought  again  unto  thee  out  of  the 
land  of  Canaan:  how  then  should  we  steal  out  of  thy  lord's  house  silver  or 
gold  .-*  With  whomsoever  of  thy  servants  it  be  found,  both  let  him  die,  and 
we  also  will  be  my  lord's  bondmen.  And  he  said,  Now  also  let  it  be  accord- 
ing unto  your  words  :  he  with  whom  it  is  found  shall  be  my  servant;  and 
ye  shall  be  blameless.  Then  they  speedily  took  down  every  man  his  sack 
to  the  ground,  and  opened  every  man  his  sack.  And  he  searched,  and 
began  at  the  eldest,  and  left  at  the  youngest :  and  the  cup  was  found  in  Ben- 
jamin's sack. 

"Then  they  rent  their  clothes,  and  laded  every  man  his  ass,  and  returned 
to  the  city.  And  Judah  and  his  brethren  came  to  Joseph's  house  ;  for  he 
was  yet  there:  and  they  fell  before  him  on  the  ground. 

"And  Joseph  said  unto  them.  What  deed  is  this  that  ye  have  done .?  wot 
ye  not  that  such  a  man  as  I  can  certainly  divine  .'*  And  Judah  said.  What 
shall  we  say  unto  my  lord.''  what  shall  we  speak?  or  how  shall  we  clear 
ourselves  ?  God  hath  found  out  the  iniquity  of  thy  servants  :  behold,  we 
are  my  lord's  servants,  both  we,  and  he  also  with  whom  the  cup  is  found. 
And  he  said,  God  forbid  that  I  should  do  so :  but  the  man  in  whose  hand 
the  cup  is  found,  he  shall  be  my  servant ;  and  as  for  you,  get  you  up  in 
peace  unto  your  father. 

"  Then  Judah  came  near  unto  him,  and  said,  Oh  my  lord,  let  thy  servant, 
I  pray  thee,  speak  a  word  in  my  lord's  ears,  and  let  not  thine  anger  burn 
against  thy  servant :  for  thou  art  even  as  Pharaoh.  My  lord  asked  his 
servants,  saying,'  Have  ye  a  father,  or  a  brother  ?  And  we  said  unto  my 
lord.  We  have  a  father,  an  old  man,  and  a  child  of  his  old  age,  a  little  one  ; 
and  his  brother  is  dead,  and  he  alone  is  left  of  his  mother,  and  his  father 
loveth  him.  And  thou  saidst  unto  thy  servants,  Bring  him  down  unto  me, 
that  I  may  set  mine  eyes  upon  him.  And  vve  said  unto  my  lord.  The  lad 
cannot  leave  his  father:  for  if  he  should  leave  his  father,  his  father  would 
die.  And  thou  saidst  unto  thy  servants,  Except  your  youngest  brother 
come  down  with  you,  ye  shall  see  my  face  no  more.  And  it  came  to  pass 
when  we  came  up  unto  thy  servant  my  father,  we  told  him  the  words  of  my 
lord.  Andour  father  said.  Go  again,  and  buy  us  a  little  food.  And  we  said, 
We  cannot  go  down  :  if  our  youngest  brother  be  with  us,  then  will  we  go 
down  :  for  we  may  not  see  the  man's  face,  except  our  youngest  brother  be 
with  us.  And  thy  servant  my  father  said  unto  us.  Ye  know  that  my  wife 
bare  me  two  sons :  and  the  one  went  out  from  me,  and  I  said,  Surely  he  is 
torn  in  pieces;  and  I  saw  him  not  since  :  and  if  ye  take  this  also  from  me, 
and  mischief  befall  him.  ye  shall  bring  down  my  gray  hairs  with  sorrow  to 
the  grave.  Now  therefore  when  I  come  to  thy  servant  my  father,  and  the 
lad  be  not  with  us  ;  seeing  that  his  life  is  bound  up  in  the  lad's  life;  it  shall 
come  to  pass,  when  he  seeth  that  the  lad  is  not  with  us,  that  he  will  die  : 
and  thy  servants  shall  bring  down  the  gray  hairs  of  thy  servant  our  father 


JACOB  AND  JOSEPH.  143 

with  sorrow  to  the  grave.  For  thy  servant  became  surety  for  the  lad  unto 
ray  father,  saying,  If  1  bring  him  not  unto  thee,  then  I  shall  bear  the  blame 
to  my  father  for  ever.  Now  therefore,  I  pray  thee,  let  thy  servant  abide 
instead  of  the  lad  a  bondman  to  my  lord ;  and  let  the  lad  go  up  with  his 
brethren.  For  how  shall  I  go  up  to  my  father,  and  the  lad  be  not  with  me  "i 
lest  peradventure  I  see  the  evil  that  shall  come  on  my  father." 

Joseph  had  proved  his  brethren  pretty  well,  and  found 
that  they  were  better  men  than  might  have  been  supposed, 
and  that  they  had  a  loving  reverence  and  natural  affec- 
tion for  their  father. 

"  Then  Joseph  could  not  refrain  himself  before  all  them  that  stood  by  him ; 
and  he  cried,  Cause  every  man  to  go  out  from  me.  And  there  stood  no  man 
with  him,  while  Joseph  made  himself  known  unto  his  brethren.  And  he 
wept  aloud :  and  the  Egyptians  and  the  house  of  Pharaoh  heard.  And 
Joseph  said  unto  his  brethren,  I  am  Joseph  ;  doth  my  father  yet  live  .-*  And 
his  brethren  could  not  answer  him :  for  they  were  troubled  at  his  presence. 
And  Joseph  said  unto  his  brethren.  Come  near  to  me,  I  pray  you.  And 
they  came  near.  And  he  said,  I  am  Joseph  your  brother,  whom  ye  sold 
into  Egypt.  Now  therefore  be  not  grieved,  nor  angry  with  yourselves,  that 
ye  sold  me  hither :  for  God  did  send  me  before  you  to  preserve  life." 

With  many  other  gracious  words  he  comforted  them,  he 
clothed  them,  he  made  a  royal  feast  for  them,  and  he  sent 
them  back  to  the  father,  to  tell  him  all  that  was  done,  and 
bring  the  old  man  himself  down  to  Egypt. 

And  so  these  wandering  clans,  these  tribes  that  were 
the  nomads  of  the  desert,  who  after  three  hundred  years 
had  not  taken  a  step  in  advance,  were  by  this  strange 
route,  this  romantic  history,  brought  down  into  Egypt  to 
receive,  through  the  next  four  hundred  years,  the  rudi- 
ments of  that  knowledge  by  which  they  were  to  become  a 
nation  to  which  the  whole  civilized  world  is  indebted  for 
its  best  laws,  its  noblest  morality,  its  sweetest  domestic 
affections,  and  its  profoundest  aspirations  !  From  so  lowly 
a  beginning  did  there  ever  spring  so  grand  a  result  in  pos- 
terity ? 

As  a  seed  no  bigger  than  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  the 
smallest  of  all  seeds,  cast  into  the  earth,  grows  and  be- 
comes a  tree  so  large  that  the  fowls  of  the  air  sit  in  its 
branches,  so  this  rude  nucleus,  this  warfare  of  wild  pas- 
sions, this  wandering  tribe  of  raw,  rash  men,  developed  at 


144  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

last  a  civilization  founded,  not  upon  art  nor  upon  the  intel- 
lect as  in  Greece,  not  upon  organization  and  iron  power 
as  in  Rome,  but  upon  the  deepest  moral  convictions  of 
which  human  nature  is  capable. 

Next  Sabbath  evening  I  propose  to  give  some  account  of 
the  closing  scenes  of  the  life  of  Joseph,  and  also  of  the 
history  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt. 

This  has  brought  us  to  the  beginnings  of  what  may  be 
called  the  sound  historical  ground — the  formation  of  in- 
stitutions and  the  Mosaic  econom}^ ;  and  through  these  I 
shall  go  with  such  haste  as  is  compatible  with  a  fair  con- 
ception of  the  benefits  conferred  by  that  economy  upon 
the  whole  human  family. 


VIII. 

JOSEPH. 


I  SHALL  endeavor,  to-night,  to  conclude  what  remarks  I 
have  to  make  on  the  first  book  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures — the  book  of  Genesis — the  book  of  the  origins 
or  beginnings  of  things. 

Last  Sunday  night  we  closed  with  the  account  of  the 
disclosure  of  Joseph  to  his  brethren  when  famine  drove 
them  down  to  Egypt.  In  all  literature  there  is  not  a  more 
exquisite  little  interlude  of  history  than  that.  To-night  I 
begin  with  the  tidings  which  went  up  with  them  on  their 
return  to  the  old  man,  their  father,  now  over  a  hundred 
years  of  age,  sitting  in  his  tent,  surrounded  by  his  flocks  and 
his  serving  men  in  Palestine.  It  was  the  saddest  message, 
and  the  most  joyful,  that  men  ever  carried  to  men. 

The  patriarchs,  as  they  are  called, — the  twelve  heads  of 
the  twelve  tribes, — were  obliged  to  go  back  to  their  father 
and  narrate  to  him  the  history  of  their  wickedness,  their 
unnatural  crime  against  their  brother  Joseph,  and  the  still 
more  heinous  and  cruel  act  against  their  father  Jacob, 
whose  sufferings  they  had  with  sealed  lips  caused  through 
the  years,  when  they  let  him  know  that  the  beloved  of  his 
heart,  the  firstborn  of  the  dearest  one,  Rachel,  was  stilJ 
alive.     The  time  had  come. 

"And  they  went  up  out  of  Egypt,  and  came  into  the  land  of  Canaan  unto 
Jacob  their  father,  and  told  him,  saying,  Joseph  is  yet  alive,  and  he  is 
governor  over  all  the  land  of  Egypt.  And  Jacob's  heart  fainted  [stopped, 
it  IS  in  the  original],  for  he  believed  them  not." 

No  words  can  paint  a  natural  phenomenon  more  exquis- 
itely. 


Sunday  evening,  December  15,  1878.     Lesson  :  Psa.  cxlvii. 

ID 


146  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

The  child  has  been  away  from  home  since  he  was  six 
years  old,  upon  the  sea  or  land  ;  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years 
he  has  not  been  heard  from,  and  is  given  up  for  dead.  No 
tidings  have  come  from  him  until  some  day  in  winter,  when, 
as  twilight  is  falling,  he  enters  his  father's  house,  where 
his  mother,  old  and  trembling,  sees  him,  and  sees  him  not. 
The  father,  gasping,  says,  "You  are  not  my  son  !  "  When 
he  says,  "Mother,  mother,  I  am  your  son,"  she  neither  be- 
lieves him  nor  disbelieves  him.  Joy  is  sometimes  so  great 
that  we  cannot  believe  that  it  is  joy  to  us,  and  we  thrust  it 
away  as  if  it  were  a  dream  and  an  imposition. 

"And  Jacob's  heart  fainted,  for  he  believed  them  not.  And  the)'  told  him 
all  the  words  of  Joseph,  which  he  had  said  unto  them  :  and  when  he  saw  the 
wagons  which  Joseph  had  sent  to  carry  him,  the  spirit  of 'Jacob  their  father 
revived." 

How  characteristic  still  !  The  sense  of  property  in  the 
old  patriarch  was  always  a  very  keen  sense.  He  w^ould. 
not  believe  his  boys,  and  he  had  good  reason  to  doubt 
them  ;  but  when  he  saw  the  property,  that  convmced  him. 

"And  Israel  said,  It  is  enough ;  Joseph  my  son  is  yet  alive  :  I  will  go  and 
see  him  before  I  die." 

They  went  down  to  Egypt. 

"And  they  took  their  cattle,  and  their  goods,  which  they  had  gotten  in  the 
land  of  Canaan,  and  came  into  Egypt,  Jacob,  and  all  his  seed  with  him  :  his 
sons,  and  his  sons'  sons  with  him,  his  daughters,  and  his  sons'  daughters, 
and  all  his  seed  brought  he  with  him  into  Egypt." 

Then  follows  the  enumeration  of  them  all.  I  am  per- 
sonally interested  in  one  fact  only.  After  mentioning  the 
rest  he  comes  dowm  to  Joseph's  children — Manasseh  and 
Ephraim  ;  then  he  names  the  sons  of  Benjamin  —  Belah, 
Becker,  etc.  It  is  always  a  matter  of  profound  interest  for 
one  to  be  able  to  trace  his  genealogy  ! 

"And  he  [Jacob]  sent  Judah  before  him  unto  Joseph,  to  direct  his  face 
unto  Goshen." 

There  has  been  some  dispute  (of  course  there  has  ;  there 
never  did  anything  happen  in  the  world  that  there  was  not 
some  dispute  about)  as  to  where  Goshen  was.  The  best 
and  most  recent  authorities,  and  I  think  the  strong  proba- 


JOSEPH.  147 

bilities,  place  it  upon  the  east  side  of  the  delta  of  the  Nile 
in  lower  Egypt.  It  was  not  included  in  Egypt  proper. 
Although  it  belonged  to  Egypt,  it  was  a  strip  of  territory 
extending  about  thirty  miles,  indefinitely,  north  or  south, 
or  east  or  west,  between  the  delta  of  the  Nile  and  the  great 
wilderness  beyond.  It  was  a  pastoral  country,  and  was 
on  that  account  in  the  possession  of  the  horsemen  of 
Pharaoh,  with  his  cattle.  There  the  king  had  directed  Jo- 
seph to  bring  his  father. 

"And  Joseph  made  ready  his  chariot,  and  went  up  to  meet  Israel  his 
father,  to  Goshen,  and  presented  himself  unto  him ;  and  he  fell  on  his  neck, 
and  wept  on  his  neck  a  good  while." 

A  silent  scene — a  scene  to  be  thought  of  ;  but  not  in  any 
way  to  be  disturbed  by  exposition. 

"And  [at  last]  Israel  said  unto  Joseph,  Now  let  me  die,  since  I  have  seen 
thy  face,  because  thou  art  yet  alive." 

He  felt  as  though  after  this  there  could  be  no  other 
blessing  half  so  great.  He  had  reached  the  climax  of 
earthly  joy.  Why  should  he  not  die  in  the  blessedness  of 
that  moment?  It  was  that  same  feeling  that  inspired 
Simeon,  in  later  days,  when  he  said,  "Lord,  now  lettest  thou 
thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  according  to  thy  word  :  for 
mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation." 

"And  Joseph  said  unto  his  brethren,  and  unto  his  father's  house,  I 
will  go  up,  and  shew  Pharaoh,  and  say  unto  him,  My  brethren,  and  my 
father's  house,  which  were  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  are  come  unto  me  ;  and 
the  men  are  shepherds,  for  their  trade  hath  been  to  feed  cattle  ;  and  they 
have  brought  their  flocks,  and  their  herds,. and  all  that  they  have.  And  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  when  Pharaoh  shall  call  you,  and  shall  say,  What  is 
your  occupation  ?  that  ye  shall  say,  Thy  servants'  trade  hath  been  about 
cattle  from  our  youth  even  until  now,  both  we,  and  also  our  fathers  :  that  ye 
may  dwell  in  the  land  of  Goshen." 

Then  the  compiler  adds  : — 

"  For  every  shepherd  is  an  abomination  unto  the  Egyptians." 

That  is  to  say,  the  pastoral  life  was  next  to  the  lowest. 
The  hunter's  life  only  was  one  step  below  it.  The  Egyptians 
were  highly  refined  and  cultivated — the  only  cultivated 
people  on  the  globe  ;  and  they  looked  down  on  any  man 


148  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

whose  business  was  lowly.  We  have  terms  that  convey  the 
contempt  they  felt.  When  we  speak  of  a  cowherd  or 
swineherd  we  use  language  which  implies  that  Norman 
contempt  of  Saxon  in  which  the  artificers  and  agricultur- 
ists of  Egypt  indulged  towards  the  wandering  herdsmen 
of  the  plains,  and  which  I  have  no  doubt  they  expressed 
in  good  round  Egyptian  words. 

It  has  been  supposed,  however,  that  Joseph's  Pharaoh 
was  of  that  Semitic  race  of  Shepherd  Kings  who  overran 
Eg3^pt,  and  ruled  tyrannically  there  for  several  hundred 
years  ;  and  that  he  welcomed  these  shepherds  from 
Canaan  as  likely  to  be  friends  of  his  dynasty.  However 
that  may  be,  Joseph's  brethren  appeared  before  the  king, 
and  repeated  their  catechism  very  well. 

"And  Pharaoh  spake  unto  Joseph,  saying,  Thy  father  and  thy  brethren 
are  come  unto  thee;  the  land  of  Egypt  is  before  thee;  in  the  best  of  the 
land  make  thy  father  and  brethren  to  dwell;  in  the  land  of  Goshen  let 
them  dwell;  and  if  thou  knowest  any  men  of  activity  among  them,  then 
make  them  rulers  over  my  cattle." 

Now  comes  one  of  the  most  unique  and  charming 
scenes,  I  think,  in  this  pastoral  history — the  meeting  be- 
tween the  king  of  Egypt  and  the  wandering  old  sheik  of 
the  desert — Pharoah  and  Jacob. 

"  And  Joseph  brought  in  Jacob  his  father,  and  set  him  before  Pharaoh 
and  Jacob  blessed  Pharaoh." 

He  did  not  wait  for  the  king's  benediction.  Ripe  old 
man — for  he  7vas  ripe.  When  he  beheld  this  monarch  in 
his  regal  splendor,  which  must  have  dazzled  the  eyes,  one 
would  think,  of  a  man  who  had  lived  in  tents  and  dwelt 
in  a  wilderness  all  his  life,  when  Jacob  was  brought  be- 
fore the  proudest  monarch  on  the  globe,  he  blessed  him. 
There  was  dignity  and  pride  for  you  !  Without  pretense, 
there  was  the  rising  of  a  man  into  his  true  position  of 
superiority,  by  his  benediction.  So  he  set  Pharaoh  down 
in  his  proper  place. 

"  And  Pharaoh  said  unto  Jacob,  How  old  art  thou  ?  And  Jacob  said 
unto  Pharaoh,  The  days  of  the  years  of  my  pilgrimage  are  an  hundred  and 
thirty  years;  few  and  evil  have  the  days  of  the  years  of  my  life  been,  and 


JOSEPH.  149 

have  not  attained  unto  tlic  days  of  the  years  of  the  life  of  my  fathers  in  the 
days  of  their  pilgrimage.  And  Jacob  blessed  Pharaoh,  and  went  out  from 
before  Pharaoh." 

That  needs  nothing  more. 

The  next  scene  is  that  in  which  Jacob  blesses  the  chil- 
dren of  Joseph,  and  adopts  them  into  the  tribal  relation. 
There  was  no  tribe  of  Joseph.  There  were  two  half-tribes 
of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh.  These  were  the  two  sons  born 
to  Joseph  while  he  dwelt  in  Egypt. 

"And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  things  [you  are  to  bear  in  mind  that 
Joseph  was  a  grand  official  of  Egypt],  that  one  told  Joseph,  Behold,  thy 
father  is  sick  :  and  he  took  with  him  his  two  sons,  Manasseh  and  Ephraim. 
And  one  told  Jacob,  and  said.  Behold,  thy  son  Joseph  cometh  unto  thee  : 
and  Israel  strengthened  himself  [summoned  up  the  whole  of  his  energy  in 
his  weak  state],  and  sat  upon  the  bed  [probably  upon  the  edge  of  the  bed]. 
And  Jacob  said  unto  Joseph  [this  was  a  retrospect  of  his  life],  God  Almighty 
appeared  unto  me  at  Luz  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  blessed  me  ;  and  said 
unto  me.  Behold,  I  will  make  thee  fruitful,  and  multiply  thee,  and  I  will 
make  of  thee  a  multitude  of  people  ;  and  will  give  this  land  to  thy  seed 
after  thee  for  an  everlasting  possession.  And  now  thy  two  sons,  Ephraim 
and  Manasseh,  which  were  born  unto  thee  in  the  land  of  Egypt  before  I 
came  unto  thee  into  Egypt,  are  mine  ;  as  Reuben  and  Simeon,  they  shall  be 
mine.  And  thy  issue,  which  thou  begettest  after  them,  shall  be  thine,  and 
shall  be  called  after  the  name  of  their  brethren  in  their  inheritance.  And 
as  for  me,  when  I  came  from  Padan,  Rachel  died  by  me  in  the  land  of 
Canaan  in  the  way,  when  yet  there  was  but  a  little  way  to  come  unto  Eph- 
rath  :  and  I  buried  her  there  in  the  way  of  Ephrath ;  the  same  is  Beth-lehem." 

There  is  something  indescribably  touching  in  the  retro- 
spect this  old  patriarch  gives  of  his  whole  life.  There 
were  but  two  things  that  stood  up  in  it,  apparently.  He 
had  had  a  great  experience  both  at  home  and  at  Padan- 
aram,  and  he  had  been  for  a  long,  time  an  honored  chief 
among  the  neighboring  nations  ;  but  only  two  things 
seemed  to  remain  to  him  worth  remembering.  One  was, 
that  God  had  appeared  to  him  and  filled  his  soul  with  a 
sense  of  divine  presence,  and  promised  him  great  blessings 
in  his  posterity  ;  and  the  other  was  Rachel.  These  were 
the  two  great  controlling  facts  of  his  life — God  and  Love. 
He  was  talking  to  Joseph,  who  was  Rachel's  first-born,  long- 
delayed  child,  and  he  was  overwhelmed  with  emotion. 

"And  Israel  beheld  Joseph's  sons,  and  said,  ^Yho  are  these  ?    And  Joseph 


I50  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

said  unto  his  father,  They  are  my  sons,  whom  God  hath  given  me  in  this 
place.  And  he  said,  Bring  them,  I  pray  thee,  unto  me,  and  I  will  bless 
them.  Now  the  eyes  of  Israel  were  dim  for  age,  so  that  he  could  not  see. 
And  he  brought  them  near  unto  him  ;  and  he  kissed  them,  and  embraced 
them.  And  Israel  said  unto  Joseph,  I  had  not  thought  to  see  thy  face  :  and, 
lo,  God  hath  showed  me  also  thy  seed.  And  Joseph  brought  them  out  from 
between  his  knees,  and  he  bowed  himself  with  his  face  to  the  earth.  And 
Joseph  took  them  both,  Ephraim  in  his  right  hand  toward  Israel's  left 
hand,  and  Manasseh  in  his  left  hand  toward  Israel's  right  hand,  and  brought 
them  near  unto  him." 

That  was  the  order  of  their  birth  ;  and  the  blessings  of 
primogeniture  were  bestowed  on  the  eldest. 

Now,  you  recollect  that  Esau  w^as  first  born  and  Jacob 
was  second,  and  you  remember  the  disgraceful  trick  by 
which  Jacob  superseded  his  brother,  and  became  heir 
apparent,  and  inherited  the  blessings  of  his  father  Isaac. 
So  when  his  son  Joseph  brought  his  boys,  and  they  were  in 
an  attitude  such  that,  in  blessing,  the  right  hand,  that 
always  carries  the  idea  of  power  and  prominence,  should 
fall  upon  the  first  born,  Jacob  said  nothing,but  crossed  his 
hands,  and  put  his  right  hand  on  the  second  born,  and  his 
left  hand  on  the  first  born.  Through  the  old  man's  mind 
what  a  curious  thread  of  thought  and  feeling  must  have 
run,  that  he  should  have  done  that  ! 

"And  he  blessed  Joseph,  and  said,  God,  before  whom  my  fathers  Abra- 
ham and  Isaac  did  walk,  the  God  which  fed  me  all  my  life  long  unto  this 
day,  the  Angel  which  redeemed  me  from  all  evil,  bless  the  lads  ;  and  let  my 
name  be  named  on  them,  and  the  name  of  my  fathers  Abraham  and  Isaac  ; 
and  let  them  grow  into  a  multitude  in  the  midst  of  the  earth.  And  when 
Joseph  saw  that  his  father  laid  his  right  hand  upon  the  head  of  Ephraim, 
it  displeased  him  :  and  he  held  up  his  father's  h.and,  to  remove  it  from 
Ephraim's  head  unto  Manasseh's  head.  And  Joseph  said  unto  his  father, 
Not  so,  my  father :  for  this  is  the  firstborn  ;  put  thy  right  hand  upon  his 
head.  And  his  father  refused,  and  said,  I  know  it,  my  son,  I  know  it  :  he 
also  shall  become  a  people,  and  he  also  shall  be  great :  but  truly  his  younger 
brother  shall  be  greater  than  he,  and  his  seed  shall  become  a  multitude  of 
nations. 

"And  he  blessed  them  that  day,  saying,  In  thee  shall  Israel  bless,  sav- 
ing, God  make  thee  as  Ephraim  and  as  Manasseh :  and  he  set  Ephraim 
before  Manasseh. 

"And  Israel  said  unto  Joseph,  Behold,  I  die:  but  God  shall  be  with  you, 
and  bring  you  again  unto  the  land  of  your  fathers.     Moreover  I  have  given 


JOSEPH.  151. 

to  thee  one  portion  above  thy  brethren,  which  I  took  out  of  the  hand  of  the 
Amorite  with  my  sword  and  with  my  bow." 

This  inextinguishable  love  of  the  old  patriarch  was  the 
crowning  feature  of  his  character. 

Then  comes  the  scene  of  the  prophecy  and  blessing 
which  Jacob  bestows  upon  his  twelve  sons.  I  shall  not 
go  through  this  in  detail  ;  or,  rather,  I  shall  rapidly  run 
through  it,  without  giving  all  the  explanations  that  are 
recorded,  because  I  propose  by  and  by  to  take  the  parallel 
scene  of  the  blessings  which  Moses  uttered  in  like  condi- 
tions. It  will  be  a  matter  of  interest  to  see  what  was  the 
blessing  of  Jacob  upon  the  twelve  sons,  and  what  the  bless- 
ing of  Moses  upon  the  twelve  tribes  ;  and  under  those 
conditions  we  shall  recur  to  it.  I  will,  however,  give  a  few 
passages  from  the  record  on  this  point.  It  is  a  poem.  On 
that  account  it  has  been  objected  to.  It  is  said  that  folks 
do  not  make  poems  when  they  are  dying.  My  reply  to 
that  is,  that  they  never  make  them  so  well  at  any  other 
time  as  then.  It  is  said  that  this  was  a  prophecy  made 
after  the  event.  It  may  have  been,  but  there  is  no  evidence 
that  there  was  a  necessity  for  any  such  strange  procedure, 
I  never  admit  a  miracle  if  I  can  help  it ;  and  I  never  refuse 
to  admit  one  if  I  cannot  help  it.  I  believe  in  miracles  and 
in  prophecies  ;  and  yet  I  do  not  believe  that  everything 
wonderful  is  a  miracle  ;  nor  do  I  believe  that  everything 
said  to  be  a  prophecy  is  a  foretelling. 

"And  Jacob  called  unto  his  sons,  and  said,  Gather  yourselves  together, 
that  I  may  tell  you  that  which  shall  befall  you  in  the  last  days.  Gather 
yourselves  together,  and  hear,  ye  sons  of  Jacob ;  and  hearken  unto  Israel 
your  father." 

It  is  almost  the  voice  of  a  bard,  and  not  that  of  a  feeble 
old  man.  Are  you  not  familiar  with  the  fact  that  often, 
when  persons  are  dying,  the  whole  force  of  their  being 
goes  to  the  head,  so  that  they  manifest  transcendent  powers 
in  that  hour  ?  I  know  not  why  at  such  times  men  may  not 
be  prophets  and  seers  of  visions.  When  in  the  dying  hour 
men  think  they  behold  father  and  mother  and  children 
waiting  for  them  across  the  border,  I  know  no  reason  why 


152  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

we  should  not  believe  that  they  see  them.  There  is  some- 
thing sublime  in  the  rising  of  this  old  man  out  of  infirmity 
and  almost  imbecility  in  the  last  moment  of  his  earthly  life 
to  pronounce  these  final  utterances. 

"  Reuben,  thou  art  my  firstborn,  my  might,  and  the  beginning  [or  first 
fruits]  of  my  strength,  the  excellency  of  dignity,  and  the  excellency  of 
power:  unstable  as  water,  thou  shalt  not  excel." 

Effervescent  as  boiling  or  bubbling  water  would  be  a  better 
rendering.  It  is  as  if  he  said,  T/iy  passions  boil  up^  like 
water  over  a  fire.  "  Thou  shalt  not  excel,"  would  be  better 
rendered,  TJioil  shalt  not  have  priority  or  preference.  By  rea- 
son of  Reuben's  transgression  Jacob  would  not  make  him 
first,  although  he  was  his  oldest  son. 

*'  Simeon  and  Levi  are  brethren." 

Of  course  they  were  ;  but  he  meant  in  a  disgraceful 
sense. 

"  Instruments  of  cruelty  are  in  their  habitations,  O  my  soul,  come  not 
thou  into  their  secret ;  unto  their  assembly,  mine  honor,  be  not  thou  united  : 
for  in  their  anger  they  sleAv  a  man  [men],  and  in  their  selfwill  they  digged 
down  a  wall." 

You  recollect  the  history  of  the  Shechemites.  You  re- 
member how  these  brothers,  by  stratagem,  acted  by  way 
of  revenge  for  the  wrong  done  their  sister,  destroying  the 
whole  male  population  of  this  people,  driving  off  their  cat- 
tle, and  committing  other  depredations. 

"Cursed  be  their  anger,  for  it  was  fierce;  and  their  wrath,  for  it  was 
cruel :  I  will  divide  them  in  Jacob,  and  scatter  them  in  Israel." 

It  cafne  to  pass  that  for  the  tribes  of  Simeon  and  Levi 
no  territorial  limits  were  appointed,  but  that  they  had 
assigned  to  them  certain  cities  within  the  territory  of  other 
sons.  The  tribe  of  Levi  was  regarded  as  the  tribe  from 
which  the  priesthood  came  ;  and  if  1  were  disposed  to 
spiritualize,  as  almost  all  ministers  do,  finding  types  and 
prototypes  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  I  should  say  the  fight- 
ing qualities  of  theology  in  after  times  came  from  the  tribe 
of  Levi,  who  was  a  cruel  and  belligerent  ancestor  from  the 
beginning. 


JOSEPH.  153 

"  Judah,  thou  art  he  whom  thy  brethren  shall  praise  :  thy  hand  shall  be 
in  the  neck  of  thine  enemies  ;  thy  father's  children  shall  bow  down  before 
thee.  Judah  is  a  lion's  whelp  :  from  the  prey,  my  son,  thou  art  gone  up  : 
he  stooped  down,  he  couched  as  a  lion,  and  as  an  old  lion ;  who  shall  rouse 
him  up  ?  The  scepter  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver  from 
between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh  come ;  and  unto  him  shall  the  gathering  of 
the  people  be." 

You  will  recall  that  when  the  tribes  went  off  to  Babylon 
and  were  dispersed  and  lost,  it  was  Judah  that  maintained 
his  individual  tribal  existence  ;  that  temples  were  multi- 
plied, and  the  continuity  of  religious  feeling  was  with  his 
tribe. 

So  Jacob  goes  on  until  he  comes  to  Joseph,  and  then  the 
old  man's  heart  breaks  out  again  with  a  freshet. 

"Joseph  is  a  fruitful  bough,  even  a  fruitful  bough  by  a  well;  whose 
branches  run  over  the  wall :  the  archers  have  sorely  grieved  him,  and  shot 
at  him,  and  hated  him :  but  his  bow  abode  in  strength,  and  the  arms  of  his 
hands  were  made  strong  by  the  hands  of  the  mighty  God  of  Jacob ;  (from 
thence  is  the  shepherd,  the  stone  of  Israel :)  even  by  the  God  of  thy  father, 
who  shall  help  thee ;  and  by  the  Almighty,  who  shall  bless  thee  with  bless- 
ings of  heaven  above,  blessings  of  the  deep  that  lieth  under,  blessings  of 
the  breasts,  and  of  the  womb :  the  blessings  of  thy  father  have  prevailed 
above  the  blessings  of  my  progenitors  unto  the  utmost  bound  of  the  ever- 
lasting hills  :  they  shall  be  on  the  head  of  Joseph  [for  Joseph  was  Rachel's 
son],  and  on  the  crown  of  the  head  of  him  that  was  separate  from  his  breth- 
ren." 

And  it  is  said  : — 

"  When  Jacob  had  made  an  end  of  commanding  his  sons,  he  gathered  up 
his  feet  into  the  bed,  and  yielded  up  the  ghost,  and  was  gathered  unto  his 
people.  And  Joseph  fell  upon  his  father's  face,  and  wept  upon  him,  and 
kissed  him.  And  Joseph  commanded  his  servants  the  physicians  to  embalm 
his  father :  and  the  physicians  embalmed  Israel." 

He  was  embalmed  after  the  manner  of  the  Egyptians. 

Then  Joseph  goes  in  to  Pharaoh,  and  asks  leave  of 
absence  to  go  up  and  bury  his  father,  with  Abraham  and 
Isaac,  in  the  cave  of  Machpelah.  Permission  is  granted, 
and  all  the  servants  of  Pharaoh,  the  principal  officers  of  his 
household,  the  elders  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  all  the 
house  of  Joseph  and  his  brethren,  and  his  father's  house 
except  their  little  ones,  their  flocks,  and  their  herds,  which 


154  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

they  left  in  the    land  of  Goshen,  went    to  make    up    the 
funeral  procession. 

"And  there  went  up  with  him  both  chariots  and  horsemen :  and  it  was  a 
very  great  company.  And  they  came  to  the  threshingfloor  of  Atad,  which 
is  beyond  Jordan.  And  there  they  mourned  with  a  great  and  very  sore 
lamentation  :  and  he  made  a  mourning  for  his  father  seven  days." 

That  is  to  sa3^,the3''  gathered  together,  and  went  through 
ceremonies  expressive  of  grief.  There  were  appointed 
mourners  who  chanted  funeral  songs  and  uttered  exclama- 
tions of  sorrow.  It  was  thought  to  be  necessary  to  have  a 
band  of  hired  mourners  at  funerals  in  those  times,  as  it  is 
thought  in  our  day  that  bereaved  persons  should  robe  them- 
selves in  garments  that  have  been  woven  in  the  loom  of 
midnight. 

"And  when  the  inhabitants  of  the  land,  the  Canaanites,  saw  the  mourn- 
ing in  the  floor  of  Atad,  they  said,  This  is  a  grievous  mourning  to  the 
Egyptians :  wherefore  the  name  of  it  was  called  Abel-mizraim." 

Mizrawi  is  the  name  of  Egypt  ;  and  it  is  called  the  mourn- 
ing of  the  Egyptians. 

When  Joseph  had  returned  from  burying  his  father,  and 
before  his  own  death,  his  brethren,  with  the  same  sordidness 
which  they  had  manifested  all  their  life,  counseled,  "  Now 
that  Joseph's  father  is  dead  nothing  will  restrain  him,  and 
he  will  turn  upon  us  ;  "  and  they  humbled  themselves,and 
sent  a  deputation  to  him,  with  a  lie,  undoubtedly,  saying  ; — 

"  So  shall  ye  say  unto  Joseph,  Forgive,  I  pray  thee  now,  the  trespass  of 
thy  brethren,  and  their  sin  ;  for  they  did  unto  thee  evil :  and  now,  we  pray 
thee,  forgive  the  trespass  of  the  servants  of  the  God  of  thy  father. 

"And  Joseph  [who  was  a  great  and  generous  soul]  wept  when  they  spake 
unto  him.  'And  his  brethren  also  went  and  fell  down  before  his  face  ;  and 
they  said,  Behold,  we  be  thy  servants.  And  Joseph  said  unto  them,  Fear 
not :  for  am  I  in  the  place  of  God  ?  But  as  for  you,  ye  thought  evil  against 
me ;  but  God  meant  it  unto  good,  to  bring  to  pass,  as  it  is  this  day,  to  save 
much  people  alive.  Now  therefore  fear  ye  not :  I  will  nourish  you,  and 
your  little  ones." 

That  is,  all  his  regal  power  was  for  their  benefit. 
Then  came  the  time  of  his  own  dying.     He  said   to  his 
brethren  : — 

"  I  die  :    and  God  will  surely  visit  you,  and  bring  you  out  of  this  land 


JOSEPH.  155 

unto  the  land  which  he  sware  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob.  And 
Joseph  took  an  oath  of  the  children  of  Israel,  saying,  God  will  surely  visit 
you,  and  ye  shall  carry  up  my  bones  from  hence.  So  Joseph  died,  being 
an  hundred  and  ten  years  old  :  and  they  embalmed  him,  and  he  was  put  in 
a  coffin  in  Egypt." 

What  matters  it  to  a  man  where  he  is  when  he  is  dead  ? 
What  if  one's  body  has  been  devoted  to  the  surgeon's  knife  ; 
or  plunged  in  the  depths  of  the  sea  ;  or  has  perished  by 
the  flame  ?  No  knife,  no  flame,  touches  the  real  man.  The 
body  is  but  the  casket  in  which  the  jewel  lies.  And  yet, 
to  one  that  has  a  thought  of  the  beautiful,  how  romantic — 
shall  I  say  poetic  ? — how  intensely  natural,  it  was  that 
Joseph  should  have  longed  to  be  buried  by  the  side  of  his 
fathers — that,  on  account  of  the  glory  of  the  kingdom  yet 
to  be  raised,  which  he  saw,  vaguely  perhaps,  he  should 
have  yearned  to  be  with  his  ancestors  ! 

I  had  always  supposed  that  when  my  father  had  become 
old  and  feeble,  he  would  desire  to  be  buried  in  old  Litch- 
field ;  but  no  ;  after  he  became  so  infirm  that  he  was  no 
longer  able  to  remember  words  with  which  to  convey  what 
his  wishes  were,  by  signs  and  tokens  he  said  to  me,  "Bury 
me  by  the  side  of  that  dear  man  "  (he  could  not  utter  the 
name), — Dr.  Nathaniel  Taylor,  of  New  Haven,  as  noble  a 
man  as  God  ever  made,  and  whose  heart  was  knitted  to  my 
father's  heart,  and  his  to  his,  with  cords  that  death  could 
not  sunder.  My  father  wanted  to  be  buried  by  his  side,  if, 
peradventure,  in  the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  when 
they  rose  together,  they  might,  with  equal  wing-beat,  fly, 
at  the  first  dawn,  and  greet  the  smile  of  the  Father's  face. 

Few  are  they  that  have  this  feeling.  Unhappy  am  I,  that 
have  not  a  bit  of  it. 

I  have  now  gone  through  the  book  of  Genesis  :  not  by 
any  means  considering  all  the  details  that  are  of  profound 
interest  in  it,  but  only  giving  a  cursory  view  with  reference 
to  the  general  contents.  It  is  a  book  of  literature.  If  you 
accept  it  as  literature  it  is  a  book  full  of  benefit  and  of 
comfort  ;  but  if  you  undertake  to  make  the  book  of  Genesis 
authoritative  and  mandatory  on  belief  and  conduct  you 


156  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

come  wide  of  that  benefit  and  that  comfort.  No  man  can 
unite  it  harmoniously  with  the  later  revelations  of  the 
truth  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  and  no  man  can  attempt  to  make 
every  part  of  it  harmonize  with  later  known  facts  with- 
out demoralizing  and  injuring  himself  theologically.  It 
is  impertinence  to  take  the  utterances  and  experiences 
of  a  child  five  years  old  and  apply  them  to  a  man  fifty 
years  old  ;  and  it  is  no  less  an  impertinence  to  make  the 
needs  of  nascent  tribes  a  criterion  by  w^hich  to  judge  of 
the  necessities  of  men  who  have  arrived  at  full-grown  man- 
hood in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  As  literature,  the  history 
of  the  early  developments  of  the  race  is  invaluable,  but  as 
dogma  it  is  useless. 

As  I  have  said,  the  record  of  Beginnings  may  be  divided 
into  several  periods.  One  is  the  nebulous  stage,  which 
treats  of  creation.  After  that  comes  the  destruction,  by 
the  flood,  of  the  human  race.  Then  follows  a  very  brief 
history  of  the  descendants  of  Noah — especially  that  partic- 
ular line  which  includes  the  primitive  patriarchs,  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob.  The  last  half,  or  perhaps  two'-thirds,  is 
occupied  in  tracing  the  experiences  of  these  patriarchs. 
They  have  produced  upon  the  imagination  of  the  Israelites, 
and  upon  the  imagination  of  modern  Christians,  an  impres- 
sion that  is  illusory  ;  and  I  propose,  in  the  remainder  of 
the  evening,  to  give  a  glance  at  the  actual  condition  and 
relations  of  these  men. 

In  the  first  place,  as  I  said  in  an  earlier  discourse  of  this 
series,  the  patriarchs  were  not  the  founders  of  the  organ- 
ized Jewish  nation.  They  founded  nothing.  They  had  no 
theology.  They  had  no  formulated  worship.  They  had 
no  recognized  laws.  They  had  no  government.  The  head 
of  the  family  was  the  chief  and  the  priest,  and  did  that 
which  according  to  his  fathers'  customs  was  supposed  to 
be  right.  There  were  no  religious  institutions — no  places 
of  worship.  They  founded  none,  except  here  and  there,  for 
specific  reasons,  an  altar, — as  few  in  the  time  of  Isaac  as  in. 
the  time  of  Abraham  ;  and  as  few  in  the  time  of  Jacob  as 
in  the  time  of  Isaac  or  Abraham.     And  there  was  no  prog- 


JOSEPH.  1 57 

ress  made  between  the  time  of  Jacob  and  the  time  of  Jo- 
seph, when  Jacob  died  in  Egypt. 

There  is  a  sense  in  which  these  patriarchs  stand  at  the 
head.  A  little  rill  in  the  mountains  flows  down  and  be- 
comes the  Amazon  ;  but  the  Amazon  is  formed,  not  by 
that  rill,  but  by  the  hundred  side-streams  that  pour  in. 
And  yet,  the  Amazon  is  said  to  have  had  its  origin  in  that 
little  rill,  no  bigger  than  my  finger. 

In  that  sense  the  tribes  had  their  origin  in  the  old  patri- 
archs ;  but  when  we  follow  them  out,  after  they  had  lived 
two  or  three  hundred  years,  there  were  only  about  seventy 
that  went  down  into  Egypt  and  took  up  their  residence  in 
the  land  of  Goshen. 

We  must  be  very  cautious,  too,  in  attributing  to  them 
such  intercourse  with  the  divine  Being  as  it  is  claimed  in 
general  religious  literature  that  they  had.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  deny  that  they  had  conscious  intercourse  with  God 
— I  believe  everyone  has  that  who  experiences  any  disclos- 
ure of  moral  sense  ;  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  they  had  it 
in  any  such  sense  as  it  is  ordinarily  held  that  they  had.  In 
the  magnified  and  exaggerated  impressions  of  both  modern 
and  ancient  times,  I  see  no  evidence  of  such  intercourse. 
Because  a  man  dreams  that  he  talks  with  God,  and  that 
God  directs  him  to  do  so  and  so,  it  does  not  follow  that 
that  is  the  teaching  of  God.  The  real  and  discernible  per- 
sonal relations  between  these  men  and  God  were  occasional. 
They  were  not  manifested  by  a  steady  stream  of  influence. 
They  were  often  only  in  the  form  of  dreams  or  impressions 
on  the  imagination.  In  a  sense  that  "raised  them  out  of 
the  sphere  of  natural  causes,  and  indicated  that  they  had 
direct  personal  intercourse  with  God,  or  that  they  experi- 
enced the  operation  of  the  divine  mind  on  theirs,  there 
were  but  two  or  three  instances.  Nothing  that  they  ever 
did  was  above  the  ordinary  moderate  use  of  the  common 
faculties.  Their  whole  history  unfolded  itself  naturally. 
Human  nature  in  them  had  not  risen  to  any  great  height. 
Their  knowledge  was  very  limited.  Their  idea  of  God — 
how  extensive  was  it  ?     They  believed   in   one   God  ;  but 


158  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

how  much  was  that  one  God,  as  they  thought  of  him  ? 
What  did  they  think  of  him  ?  To  Abraham  he  was  "  the 
Highest "  of  all  the  gods  he  knew  of — the  Supreme  One — 
the  only  real  one  ;  to  the  later  patriarchs,  he  was  the  God 
of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob. 

And  what  did  God  teach  these  men  on  the  subject  of 
veracity,  and  the  indispensable  necessity  of  it  ?  There  is 
no  record  on  this  point.  There  is  no  command  which 
makes  truth  obligatory,  nor  is  there  any  rebuke  of  its  vio- 
lation. There  was  a  principle  of  honesty  and  integrity — 
a  kind  of  varying,  unstable  principle  on  which  men  acted. 
This  exists  in  every  nation  on  the  globe  ;  society  could  not 
cohere  without  it :  but  that  they  had  anything  more  in  this 
direction  than  every  tribe  on  earth  has  there  is  no  trace. 
What  teaching  was  given  them  in  regard  to  polygamy — 
that  vile  cancer  on  the  household  ?  What  were  they  taught 
of  that  great  love  which  is  the  exaltation  of  human  nature 
— the  sacred  love  that  exists  between  one  and  another  ?  Is 
it  conceivable  that  in  the  course  of  three  lives,  for  nearly 
three  hundred  years,  while  men  were  supposed  to  be  in 
intercourse  with  God,  God  should  have  had  nothing  to  im- 
part to  his  people  on  the  subject  of  polygamy  ?  However 
that  may  be,  this  evil  was  suffered  to  exist  and  to  bear  its 
evil  results  without  rebuke,  so  far  as  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures  tell  us.  There  was  no  preconception  of  the 
proper  status  of  the  household.  What  steps  were  taken 
toward  civilization  in  this  and  other  particulars  were  taken 
after  their  time.  They  remained  shepherds  till  the  very 
last.  They  had  no  laws,  institutions,  customs,  or  organized 
methods,  that  we  should  not  criticise  very  severely. 

This  will  appear  more  plain  when  we  compare  the  con- 
dition of  Israel  on  coming  into  Egypt  with  Egypt  itself. 
Egypt  was  the  one  civilized  nation  on  the  globe  when  the 
patriarchs  were  thrown  within  her  borders.  It  was  a 
regularly  organized  government.  It  was  not  the  best  gov- 
ernment that,  in  the  light  of  experiments  which  men  have 
since  made,  it  was  possible  to  have  ;  but  it  was  a  better 
government  than    any  contemporaneous  nation  had,  and 


JOSEPH.  159 

certainly  better  than  these  wandering  tribes  had.     It  was  a 
stable  government.    It  had  a  settled  order  of  procedure.     It 
embraced  a  set  of  wholesome  laws.     The  Egyptians  were 
an  agricultural  people.     They  led,  as  it  were,  the  nations 
of    the  earth.     They    had   also  an  active  commerce  ;  and 
agriculture  and    commerce  go  hand  in  hand.     The  agri- 
culture and  the  commerce  were  not  of  the  highest  type, 
but  they    were  very    important,   and  it  took  centuries  to 
compass  their    development.     They  had    made  some   ad- 
vance in   art ;    their    sculpture    was    above    that  of    other 
nations  and   their  architecture  most  impressive.     In  con- 
structive engineering  they  were  pre-eminent.     Modern  en- 
gineers even  contemplate  with  admiration  the  wonderful 
feats  they  accomplished  with  but  few  and  inferior  tools. 
Gunpowder   and  nitro-glycerine  were  unknown  ;  and  yet 
the  achievements  of  quarrying  that  were   performed  with 
poor  instruments,  we,  with  all  our  machinery  and  steam 
power,  regard  with  astonishment.     Think  of  carving  the 
Sphinx  out  of  a  single  rock  !     Look  at  the  stones  selected, 
from  many    quarries,    for   the    pyramids,    with  a  wisdom 
which  would  do  credit  to  engineers  of  modern  scientific 
experience.     And  consider  the  moving  of  these  stones — for 
it  is  said  that  the   methods  of  doing  this  were  almost  as 
marvelous  as    the  pyramids  themselves.     And  there    was 
also  a  vast  complicated  institutional  organization  of  relig- 
ion, with  some  notable  elements  that  may  well  excite  our 
admiration.     Here  was  a  nation  that  had  come  up  and  de- 
veloped to  a  remarkable  degree,  compared  with  which  the 
other  nations  were  as  shavings  alongside  of  magnificent 
trees  of  the  forest. 

And  yet  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  made  a  profound 
impression  on  the  imagination  of  the  later  Jewish  nation. 
The  Jews  half  created  these  Fathers  of  the  primitive  period. 
They  clothed  them  with  the  luminous  robes  which  they 
have  worn.  When  they  pronounced  the  names  "Abraham," 
''  Isaac,"  and  "Jacob,"  they  did  not  see  those  men  as  they 
were  :  they  saw  them  as  the  heroes  they  had  made  them  to 
be  — what  to    the  Greeks  Hercules  was.     The  patriarchs 


l6o  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

meant  to  them  what  the  primitive  heroes  of  almost  every 
nation  naturally  mean  ;  they  were  glorified  by  their  origin- 
ators. 

And  this  estimation  of  the  three  great  patriarchs  has 
run  through  Christian  literature  perhaps  even  more  than 
through  the  literature  of  the  Jews.  Jacob,  the  least  Christ- 
like, the  least  spiritual,  of  them,  the  man  that  had  the 
shrewdest  sense  of  property  and  good  management,  the 
politician  and  statesman,  is  sometimes  extolled  to  a  degree 
that  borders  on  blasphemy.  I  have  heard  prayers  com- 
menced by  references  to  him  which  made  me  shiver.  To 
the  Jews  it  w^as  a  common  thing  to  say,  "  The  God  of 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,"  or  "The  God  of  our  fathers," 
thus  exalting  these  men  above  all  other  human  beings. 
To  us,  what  are  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  but  dim  lights 
on  the  remotest  horizon  of  antiquity?  And  when  you 
come  to  closely  examine  them  as  to  their  manhood,  religion, 
and  spirituality,  they  will  not  bear  the  searching  inquisi- 
tion of  the  rules  of  our  modern  religious  knowledge  and 
feeling. 

But  it  will  be  said,  "  How  is  it  that  the  New  Testament 
speaks  of  them  as  it  does?"  You  will  find  that  in  the 
twelfth  chapter  of  Hebrews  it  is  shown  that  Abraham  was 
regarded  as  having  poetic  thoughts,  that  he  acted  with 
reference  to  things  which  he  could  not  see,  things  which 
he  expected  in  the  future,  things  in  the  air.  So  did  Isaac 
and  Jacob  have  thoughts  of  things  which  had  not  taken 
place,  but  which  were  to  take  place  in  the  future,  illustrat- 
ing the" power  of  men  through  faith  in  the  invisible  to  act 
outside  of  the  sensuous.  That  was  a  vast  gain  upon  the 
low,  material  condition  of  men  of  their  day.  The  New 
Testament  speaks  of  them  as  they  were  estimated. 

It  is  said  that  Christ  spoke  of  them  reverentially.  That 
is  true.  He  spoke  of  them  as  ancestors,  as  their  descend- 
ants were  accustomed  to  speak  of  them.  But  one  recorded, 
fact  is  striking  :  that  when  the  very  summit  of  his  own  life 
was  reached,  before  his  crucifixion,  at  the  Transfiguration 
upon  the  side  of  the  mountain,  it  was  not  Abraham  nor 


JOSEPH.  i6i- 

Isaac  nor  Jacob  that  came  over,  and  in  the  air  were  spec- 
tators. It  was  Moses  and  Elijah  that  appeared  and  talked 
with  him.  It  was  Moses  who  was  the  founder  of  the 
Israelites,  in  any  proper  sense  of  that  term  ;  their  institu- 
tions were  derived  from  the  hand  of  Moses  ;  while  their 
moral  instructions  came  from  the  prophets,  from  the  time 
of  Samuel  down  to  the  end  of  the  long  line. 

There  were,  however,  three  great  elements  which  oper- 
ated upon  these  ancient  men,  and  which  were  transmitted 
from  them  to  their  posterity.  First,  and  most  important, 
there  was  firm  and  unwavering  faith  in  the  unity  of  God 
as  distinguished  from  the  polytheism  of  idolatry.  While 
in  other  nations  almost  every  natural  phenomenon  was 
supposed  to  be  a  god,  it  was  borne  in  upon  the  mind  of 
Abraham,  and  transmitted  by  him  to  his  children,  that 
there  was  but  one  God,  and  that  besides  him  all  objects  or 
creatures  that  were  claimed  to  be  gods  were  idols  and  lies. 
The  patriarchs  held  that  there  was  one  supreme  Creator, 
Governor,  Judge,  God  ;  and  that  truth  has  been  trans- 
mitted by  their  whole  posterity. 

What  if  they  did  not  meditate  largely  upon  the  attributes 
of  God  ?  What  if  they  did  not  apprehend  the  elements  of 
moral  government  ?  What  if,  in  that  early,  twilight  age, 
no  religious  institutions  had  yet  been  evolved  'i  Here  was 
the  very  center  of  all  true  religion — one  God  ;  and  in  that 
dark,  desolate  period,  these  men  stood  unwavering  wit- 
nesses to  that  truth. 

Then,  next,  was  the  purity  of  the  household.  When  I 
hear  men  say  that  the  life  of  the  world  has  been  wrapped 
UD  in  its  system  of  religious  doctrine,  my  reply  is  that  in 
connection  with  that,  as  one  of  the  saving  influences  of 
mankind,  has  been  the  foundation  of  the  family  upon 
purity  of  life.  The  household  is  one  ark  that  has  gone  far 
toward  carrying  nascent  peoples  and  individuals  over  the 
perils  of  dark  periods  to  safety  ;  and  the  patriarchs,  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  Jacob,  held  their  tribes  together  by  the 
pure  household,  making  the  family  an  ark  of  purity  and 

safety. 

II 


1 62  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

There  was  one  more  element  in  their  lives  that  should  be 
mentioned  in  this  enumeration — namely,  their  hope  in  a 
future,  although  this  hope  never  amounted  to  a  firm  faith. 
They  did  not  go  through  the  world  with  their  heads  down 
like  browsing  cattle  ;  their  thoughts  were  directed  upward, 
to  a  land  beyond,  where  they  and  their  posterity  were  -to 
dwell  after  leaving  this  mortal  sphere. 

These  :  One  God.,  the  Household  intact  and  pure,  and  the 
Hope  of  a  Future,  were  the  three  great  elements  that  were 
developing  in  the  patriarchal  period.  Though  they  had 
not  then  attained  the  degree  of  perfection  which  they  have 
reached  in  modern  times,  they  were  rooted  and  grounded. 
And  when  we  consider  that  they  were,  so  to  speak,  the 
mere  letters  of  the  alphabet  ;  when  we  consider  that  from 
these  primal  elements  have  been  unfolded  all  the  glory  of 
later  Christian  civilization,  we  cannot  but  acknowledge 
their  vast  importance  to  the  race,  and  derive  from  them  a 
large  conception  of  the  methods  of  God  in  guiding  his 
people  from  a  low  state  to  a  higher, 

I  accept,  then,  this  Book  of  Beginnings  as  the  recorded 
history  of  the  first  faint  dawnings  of  that  life  which  has 
now  become  so  wondrous  in  its  development.  lam  grateful 
for  the  preservation  of  these  records.  I  value  them  for  the 
treasures  I  find  in  them.  They  are  rich  in  sweet  pictures, 
admirable  touches  of  nature,  which  no  man  would  will- 
ingly miss.  Here  were  a  people  that  were  said  to  have  been 
led  of  God  ;  and  I  believe  they  were.  I  think  he  led  them 
by  natural  laws — by  evolution  of  their  social  and  moral 
natures.  The  book  of  Genesis  shows  us  the  selection  of 
the  crude  elements ;  their  development  and  refinement 
must  be  seen  in  later  records. 


IX. 
MOSES. 


In  pursuing  our  course  of  readings  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures,  we  have  completed  the  first  book — the 
book  of  the  beginnings  or  origins  of  things.  We  leave 
it  with  regret.  It  is  a  book  of  delight.  It  is  a  book  in 
which  the  stories  take  on  all  romantic  forms.  It  is  the  book 
of  the  infancy  of  the  human  race.  The  pastoral  life  and 
histories  are  poems,  and  we  have  taken  great  pleasure  in 
them. 

Now  we  pass  on  to  the  second  book,  with  which  definite 
history  begins.  We  come  down  to  times  more  nearly 
within  our  reach,  more  nearly  within  the  domain  of  those 
instruments  of  thought  by  which  men  have  learned  to 
compass  and  record  the  truth. 

This  book  is  called  Exodus,  from  its  Greek  name  in  the 
Septuagint.  The  Septuagint  is  the  oldest  Greek  version 
of  the  Old  Testament  in  existence.  It  was  made,  proba- 
bly in  the  third  century  before  Christ,  for  those  who  were 
dispersed  abroad,  and  who  spoke,  principally,  the  Greek 
language,  and  it  was  the  version  commonly  used  by  the 
Jews  in  the  time  of  Christ,  even  in  Palestine.  Jn  English, 
the  book  of  Exodus  may  be  called  The  Book  of  the  Going 
Forth,  or  the  Departure.  It  is  divided,  naturally,  into  two 
parts  :  the  first  nineteen  chapters  giving,  mainly,  the  his- 
tory of  the  departure  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt  ;  and 
from  the  nineteenth  chapter  to  the  end,  offering  delinea- 
tions of  those  institutions,  civil  and  religious,  which  Moses 
gave  to  his  people. 


Sunday  evening,  December  22,  1878.     Lesson  :  Psa.  cvi. 


1 64  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

Of  course  it  is  for  me,  to-night,  only  to  make  a  begin- 
ning upon  this  great  history  ;  and  in  doing  this  I  must  call 
your  attention  to  the  relation  which  men  of  ancient  thought 
sustained  to  the  element  of  time.  It  might  almost  be  said 
that  in  the  records  of  the  Old  Testament,  certainly  in  its 
primary,  primitive  books,  the  element  of  time  was  not 
thought  of.  I  should  almost  say  that  the  idea  of  chronology 
in  a  literary  record  had  not,  in  that  early  day,  been  in- 
vented in  such  a  sense  as  that  in  which  we  use  the  term. 

For  example,  simply  from  the  book  of  Genesis  who 
could  tell  what  the  time-element  was  in  that  era  ?  Who, 
merely  from  the  Old  Testament  history,  standing  between 
the  first  Creation  and  the  next  natural  period,  the  Flood, 
could  determine  the  number  of  years  that  elapsed  ?  There 
is  no  determination  of  the  time-element  at  all,  nor  any 
attempt  at  it,  in  the  Old  Testament  ;  the  literary  efforts 
made  to  determine  this  element  have  been  made  upon 
hints  and  incidental  facts  ;  and  they  have  never  been  very 
successful.  From  the  Flood  to  the  time  of  Abraham — cer- 
tainly hundreds  of  years — there  is  perfect  silence  on  the 
subject  in  the  record.  From  the  call  of  Abraham  to  the 
death  of  Jacob  in  Egypt,  during  the  patriarchal  period, 
which  is  supposed  to  have  extended  through  about  two 
hundred  and  fifteen  years,  there  is  nothing  in  the  narra- 
tive upon  which  a  conclusion  could  be  based.  Things  are 
not  stated  definitely,  except  as  regards  the  ages  of  men. 
For  the  most  part  they  are  given  ;  and  even  they  are  un- 
certain as  to  whether  referring  to  men  or  tribes  ;  and,  for 
the  most  part,  from  those  data  we  are  obliged  to  make  our 
own  calculations  as  to  the  lapse  of  time. 

Then  from  the  descent  into  Egypt  to  the  period  of  Moses, 
which  we  are  told  in  the  New  Testament  was  about  four 
hundred  and  seventy  years,  there  is  nothing  in  the  older 
record  that  gives  any  idea  of  the  length  of  the  period.  It 
was  a  timeless  history.  There  appears  in  this,  as  in  many 
other  things,  the  impress  of  an  infant  race,  an  infant  un- 
folding, an  infant  literature.  Everything  was  nascent, 
undeveloped.     And  this  carries  with  it  a  strong  impression 


MOSES.  '       165 

as  to  the  reality  and  authenticity  of  these  ancient  scrip- 
tures. They  are  as  old  as  men  have  thought  them  to  be. 
They  are  not  modern  inventions.  They  bear  upon  their 
very  face,  in  their  very  deficiencies  and  in  their  aberra- 
tions, the  marks  of  antiquity.  They  existed  before  civiliza- 
tion and  literature  and  learning  were  born  into  the  world. 
If  they  had  come  down  to  us  dressed  as  perfectly  as  our 
own  histories  are,  we  should  at  once  have  said,  "  These 
cannot  be  the  histories  of  primitive  races."  The  very 
antiquity  of  these  scriptures  is  borne  out  by  their  inciden- 
tal deficiencies. 

This  time-element  is  very  striking  when  you  consider  it 
in  its  relations  to  the  exactitude  of  the  divine  administra- 
tion in  the  natural  w^orld.  Look  at  the  great  sphere  of 
astronomy,  where  everything  moves  according  to  accurate 
mathematical  exactness  and  definiteness  ;  there  are  no 
variations  or  exceptions :  everything  is  positive.  Look 
at  the  strict  accuracy  of  proportions  in  chemistry,  where 
all  is  definite,  constant,  always  and  everywhere.  In  phys- 
ics the  relations  are  invariably  clear,  and  true  to  the  ascer- 
tainable laws  of  cause  and  effect,  structure  and  function. 
In  contrast  with  the  accuracy  which  exists  in  outward 
nature,  striking  is  the  lack,  in  this  primitive  record,  of 
exactitude  and  definiteness  in  the  processes  of  human 
action.  It  is  as  if  the  thoughts  of  men  rose  as  clouds  rise 
that  take  on  vague  forms — indeterminate  shapes  ;  and  we 
see  in  the  primitive  history  traces  of  this  vagueness  of 
thought  strangely  pervading  the  records  themselves. 

In  connection  with  this  lack  of  definiteness  and  exacti- 
tude as  regards  the  time-element,  we  are  to-night  brought 
to  the  very  edge  of  a  gulf.  More  than  four  hundred  years 
lie  before  us,  between  Joseph  and  Moses.  Out  of  that 
period  comes  not  a  single  voice.  There  is  no  evidence,  in 
the  Scriptures  or  elsewhere,  so  far  as  the  Israelites  were 
concerned,  that  there  was  an  altar  or  tabernacle  built. 
The  indications  are  that  those  four  hundred  years  were 
years  of  darkness,  silence,  mystery.  We  can  penetrate  it 
by  using  known  laws,  and  by  inference  ;  but  the  record  is 


1 66       ■  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

dead.  The  sixth  and  seventh  verses  of  the  first  chapter 
of  Exodus  are  separated  by  four  hundred  years,  without 
hint  or  sign. 

"And  Joseph  died,  and  all  his  brethren,  and  all  that  generation. 

"And  the  children  of  Israel  were  fruitful,  and  increased  abundantly,  and 
multiplied,  and  waxed  exceeding  mighty;  and  the  land  was  filled  with 
them." 

This  covered  a  period  of  four  hundred  years  ;  and  there 
is  no  record  of  the  great  space  of  time  between.  If  we  wish 
any  memorial  of  it  we  must  take  the  reflection,  as  it  were, 
of  backward  beams  of  light.  We  have  the  history  of  the 
Israelites  when  they  came  out  of  Egypt ;  and  as  every 
effect  must  have  a  cause,  taking  the  effects  which  were 
wrought  out  in  four  hundred  years,  we  can  come  to 
some  knowledge  of  the  causes  which  must  have  been  in 
existence  during  the  time. 

The  question  may  arise  as  to  whether  these  people  were 
not  under  divine  care  during  that  period.  We  have  seen 
that  the  Old  Testament  claims  that  Abraham  was  espe- 
cially called  of  God,  and  was  under  his  personal  super- 
vision and  tutelage,  that  Isaac  followed  in  the  same  line 
of  divine  convoy,  and  that  Jacob  was  conducted  from 
period  to  period  under  the  constant  inspection  and  guid- 
ance of  God  :  but  here  spring  up  twelve  heads  of  Tribes 
that  cover  four  hundred  years  in  which  th6re  is  apparently 
no  convoy,  no  declarative  providence  over  them. 

God  employs  nature.  Nature  is  greater  than  institu- 
tions. It  is  the  parent  of  institutions.  All  righteous  insti- 
tutions are  but  nature  applied.  God's  communications  to 
men  by  the  living  voice  are  not  so  solemn  nor  so  sublime 
as  the  communications  of  God  to  men  through  the  voices 
of  nature  round  about  us.  Israel  was  not  forgotten  or 
abandoned  because  in  the  wisdom  of  divine  providence 
she  was  left  to  vegetate,  to  become  a  people,  and  so  to 
prepare  for  us  a  great  after-history.  This  long  period  v/as 
required  to  develop  a  nation  in  numbers.  At  any  rate,  it 
may  be  said  that  one  thing  which  did  happen  during  those 
four  hundred  vears  was  a  mi^htv  increase  in  the  numbers 


MOSES.  167 

of  the  nation.  Could  not  that  have  been  done  in  Pales- 
tine ?  It  is  very  doubtful.  It  is  more  than  likely,  when 
you  consider  the  preoccupation  of  the  territory  by  warlike 
tribes  on  every  side,  that  the  posterity  of  Abraham  and  his 
descendants  would  have  drifted  north  or  east  or  south,  and 
remained  in  a  nomadic  or  pastoral  life.  Now  a  pastoral 
life  scatters  :  an  agricultural  life  condenses.  The  Israelites 
were  carried  to  a  condition  in  which  they  would  be  held 
together,  and  be  able  to  keep  all  that  they  gathered,  and 
to  maintain  a  cohesive  existence.  Seventy  souls  went 
down  into  Egypt.  It  is  the  general  opinion  (though  the 
estimates  vary  from  a  million  to  a  million  and  a  half,  and 
even  two  millions),  that  a  million  souls  came  out  of  Egypt. 
Here,  then,  was  the  nest ;  and  this  was  the  brood  ! 

The  region  inhabited  by  them  was  fitted,  by  its  position, 
and  by  other  circumstances,  to  the  transition  from  pas- 
toral to  agricultural  life.  It  was  east  of  the  easternmost 
branch  of  the  Nile.  It  w^as  within  agricultural  bounds. 
It  included  pastoral  lands.  So,  about  the  patriarchs  in 
Goshen,  where  they  settled  down  and  grew  .up,  there  was 
a  land  that  had  both  agricultural  and  pastoral  adaptations, 
with  a  constant  tendency  to  pass  from  the  pastoral  to  the 
agricultural,  which  is  the  next  higher  step  in  development ; 
this  had  a  civilizing  effect.  While  it  had  its  repugnances, 
it  also  had  certain  elevating  influences  wdiich  it  exerted 
upon  this  nascent  people.  That  they  became  to  a  very 
great  extent  agricultural,  we  know  ;  and  that  the  nomadic 
element  was  in  them,  we  know.  They  never  eradicated 
that.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  Moses  took  a  million 
of  them  and  carried  them  into  the  wilderness,  and  for  forty 
years  convoyed  them  there.  It  would  be  impossible  to 
take  a  settled  nation  and  carry  them  into  such  a  nomadic 
life.  The  possibility  of  their  being  induced  to  lead  a  wan- 
dering life  was  based  upon  the  old  instinct  in  them  of  the 
shepherd  life.  So,  then,  they  had  an  addiction  toward  the 
agricultural  without  losing  the  pastoral. 

Thus  the  Israelites  were  placed  in  this  Goshen  land,  first 
because  it  fitted  their  pastoral    life,  and  second  because  it 


1 68  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

afforded  facilities  for  agricultural  pursuits.  It  so  happened 
that  this  was  an  important  frontier  of  Egypt  ;  that  it  was 
the  weak  side  of  that  countr}-,  as  toward  the  great  Asiatic 
nations,  which  had  overrun  and  were  overrunning  the 
Egyptian  territory.  Egypt  did  not  need  to  guard  itself  on 
the  west  or  on  the  south  ;  for,  although  it  had  once  been 
assailed  and  overrun  from  the  interior  of  Africa,  the  likeli- 
hood of  attack  was  not  in  that  direction.  The  warlike 
people  of  Asia  rose  and  multiplied,  and  threatened  to  roll 
over  to  the  great  valley  of  the  Nile,  that  was  the  attraction 
of  the  universal  world,  on  account  of  its  v^^ealth,  of  the 
glory  of  its  art,  and  of  the  reputation  of  its  monarchs. 

Now,  as  I  have  said,  the  frontier  was  Goshen  ;  and  the 
Israelites  were  a  plucky  people.  They  never  ceased  to  be 
such.  Abraham  did  not  fight  in  vain.  He  showed  that  he 
was  a  warrior.  Not  so  with  Isaac.  He  was  quie'scent.  He 
was  an  everlasting  member  of  the  Peace  Society.  Jacob 
was  politic.  He  was  not,  at  the  last  resort,  I  suppose,  un- 
willing to  contend,  but  he  lived  by  a  diligent  exercise  of 
his  brains  in  all  matters  that  came  to  him.  But  the  pos- 
terity of  these  three  men  showed  that  they  had  vigor,  bone, 
muscle,  irascibility,  courage,  cruelty,  and  capacity  for  ven- 
geance.  They  were  primitive  warriors.  It  was  nothing 
for  them  to  destroy  a  city  in  order  to  satisfy  their  turbu- 
lence, their  passion,  their  ungovernableness,  the  bad  quali- 
ties in  them.  And  when  their  posterity  or  their  country 
was  threatened,  they  were  plucky  and  could  be  depended 
upon  for  defense.  So,  these  Israelites,  being  put  in  Goshen 
to  defend  the  frontier,  were  trained  to  a  kind  of  semi-mili- 
tary feeling.  It  was  shown  when  they  first  went  into  the 
wilderness.  If  brought  to  emergencies  they  were  capable 
of  meeting  and  overwhelming  their  adversaries.  They 
were  warlike  ;  and  the  inner  source  of  their  power  was  the 
fact  that  they  were  being  instructed  in  the  art  of  war.  In 
the  history  of  the  world,  military  training  is  for  civilization 
next  to  moral  training.  That  is  to  say,  physical  vigor, 
strength,  and  courage  are  indispensable  to  virtue  and  to 
power.     Weakness  in  a  nation  is  an  unforgivable  heresy. 


MOSES.  169 

Strength  is  the  element  of  permanence.  Weakness  fore- 
tokens decay.  In  civilizing  a  nation  the  elements  of 
courage  and  enterprise  are  blessed  evidences  of  a  condition 
which  will  take  on  polish.  You  cannot  polish  a  pumpkin, 
nor  lead.  The  things  that  are  hard,  and  will  hold  polish, 
are  the  things  that  we  burnish  and  brighten.  There  must 
be  a  great  deal  of  human  nature  if  you  are  going  to  make 
much  grace  out  of  it  ; — and  there  was  a  great  deal  of 
human  nature  among  the  Israelites. 

Then,  their  position  and  family  clannishness  led  them  to 
keep  aloof  from  the  great  body  of  the  Egyptians.  They 
did  not  mingle  with  them.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the 
Egyptians  despised  the  Israelites,  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  Israelites  paid  them  back  in  the  same  coin. 
While  repugnances  and  prejudices  that  separate  men  in 
our  day  generally  are  not  to  be  praised,  but  are  to  be  dis- 
allowed, there  are  circumstances  in  which  they  are  to  the 
last  degree  desirable.  It  was  so  with  the  Israelites  ;  and 
being  placed  in  this  valley  of  bounty,  which  produced 
everything  that  flourished  in  the  tropics,  they  gradually 
separated  themselves  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  from  the 
Eg3^ptians.  There  is  no  other  wall  like  hatred.  At  any 
rate,  they  did  not  deliquesce  readily  and  mingle  with  the 
common  people  of  that  nation. 

It  is  true  that  they  were  infected,  to  a  certain  degree, 
with  Egyptian  idolatry  ;  and  yet,  in  other  things  they  were 
not  affected  at  all  by  their  contact  with  the  Egyptians. 
They  are  spoken  of  in  the  historical  record  as  having 
served  the  gods  in  Egypt.  The  great  object  of  worship  in 
Egypt  was  the  sun.  In  all  Oriental  nations  the  sun  and 
stars  produced  a  most  powerful  impression  upon  the 
imagination — a  sense  of  veneration.  In  Egypt  the  worship 
of  the  sun  stood  as  in  Palestine  did  the  worship  of  Jehovah, 
the  Everlasting,  the  Everliving.  And  they  worshiped  not 
only  the  sun  but  all  the  other  powers  of  nature,  with  their 
hundreds  of  symbols  in  the  celestial  bodies  and  in  vege- 
table and  animal  forms. 

Thus  the  Israelitish  people  dwelt  ;  and,  though  we  have 


I/O  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

no  record  or  actual  knowledge  of  their  condition  when  they 
went  out  of  Egypt,  yet  those  four  hundred  years  must  have 
been  years  of  vegetation,  and  of  gradual  unfolding,  grad- 
ual strengthening,  gradual  preparation  for  the  great  drama 
in  which  this  peculiar  people  were  to  act  so  sublime  a 
part. 

During  this  whole  time,  as  I  have  said,  there  was  no 
hero,  no  great  priest,  no  towering  patriarch.  Four  hun- 
dred years  w^ere  waiting  for  the  coming  man  ;  and  when 
he  came  he  was  a,  man  who,  in  proportions  and  in  grand- 
eur, was  worthy  of  that  long  w^aiting.  For  until  you  come 
to  the  Advent  there  is  no  name  in  all  human  liistor}^  that, 
for  various  excellence,  can  be  compared  for  one  single 
moment  with  the  name  of  Moses,  the  man  who,  as  a  leader, 
so  excelled  as  to  gain  a  reputation  unexampled — the  man 
who  delivered  his  people,  not  ov\y^  but  whose  leadership 
itself  paled  in  the  superior  light  of  his  power  of  organiza- 
tion and  of  administration.  The  foundations  on  which 
commonwealths  are  built  to-day  w^ere  laid  in  the  Arabian 
desert ;  and  the  laws  and  customs  and  institutions  which 
we  cherish' in  our  time  with  most  tenacity,  and  for  good 
reason,  came  originally  from  the  hand  of  Moses,  than 
whom  nature  has  never  produce        greater  man. 

I  shall  not,  to-night,  attempt  to  discuss  at  all  the  dis- 
puted question  of  the  real  historical  existence  of  one  called 
Moses,  and  the  genuineness  of  his  labor.  I  do  not  sympa- 
thize with  the  extreme  school  that  undertake  to  destroy  all 
histor}^,  and  to  resolve  everything  into  the  nebulae  of 
remote  antiquity.  It  seems  to  me  to  require  a  greater 
stretch  of  faith  and  more  breadth  of  conception  to  suppose 
a  character  like  Moses  to  have  been  invented  than  to  sup- 
pose that  he  lived  and  performed  the  tasks  that  are 
ascribed  to  him.  At  another  time  I  shall  consider,  in 
brief,  the  subject  of  the  reality  of  Moses,  and  the  substan- 
tial historic  foundation  of  the  history  that  is  given  of  him. 

With  these  preliminary  remarks  I  turn  to  the  first  two 
chapters  of  the  book  of  Exodus. 

"And  Joseph  died,  and  all  his  brethren,  and  all  that  generation. 


MOSES.  tjl 

"And  the  children  of  Israel  were  fruitful,  and  increased  abundantly,  and 
multiplied,  and  waxed  exceeding  mighty." 

You  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  promises  made  to 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  iterated  and  reiterated,  were 
promises  of  abundant  posterity.  The  Oriental  people 
regarded  a  large  household  as  the  greatest  of  earthly  bless- 
ings. I  need  not  refer  you  to  the  Psalms,  in  which,  in 
various  ways,  this  fact  is  proclaimed.  To  be  without 
children  was  regarded  as  the  greatest  of  misfortunes,  and 
to  be  the  mother  of  many  children  was  considered  the  most 
significant  token  of  divine  favor. 

So  far  as  the  physical  is  concerned,  a  wholesome  out-of- 
door  life,  well  tempered  with  labor  and  abundant  food, 
increases  population  with  remarkable  rapidity.  We  know 
how  it  is  in  the  insect  world,  the  bird  world,  and  the  animal 
world.  Let  there  be  ample  food  and  protection,  and  there 
will  be  increase  at  an  extraordinary  rate.  And  that  which 
is  true  of  the  lower  creation  is  true  of  the  human  family. 

Now%  there  was  a  cradle  for  the  Israelites.  It  was  this 
land  of  Goshen,  where  they  had  sufficient  food,  where  there 
was  all  needed  protection,  and  where  they  had  moderate 
labor.  Therefore  it  was  that  they  "  were  fruitful,  and 
increased  abundantly,  and  multiplied  and  waxed  exceed- 
ing mighty,"  so  that  "the  land  was  filled  with  them." 
"  Now  there  arose  up  a  new  king  in  Egypt,  which  knew  not  Joseph." 

The  dynasties  of  Egypt  are  infinitely  perplexing.  That 
there  was  a  succession  of  dynasties  in  Egypt  we  know  ; 
but  exactly  the  line  of  them  and  the  number  of  them  are 
matters  of  very  much  dispute  and  difference  of  opinion. 
It  is,  however,  on  the  whole,  generally  held  that  what  is 
called  the  Shepherd  dynasty  had  at  the  time  we  are  dis- 
cussing come  and  gone — that  the  Egyptians  had  revolted 
and  cast  them  out  and  the  native  rulers  had  again  come  to 
power.  And,  after  four  hundred  years  had  passed  from 
one  dynasty  to  another,  after  one  Pharaoh  had  succeeded 
another  (for  Pharaoh  among  the  Egyptians,  like  Ccesar 
among  the  Romans,  was  the  official  name  of  the  head  of 
the  state),  is  it  strange  that  when  they  talked  about  Joseph 


172  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

this  later  Pharaoh  did  not  know  much  about  him  ?  We 
look  at  it  from  the  side  of  Israel,  and  we  shall  be  in  danger 
of  taking  sides  exclusively  with  Israel  and  damning  Pha- 
raoh, as  though  there  was  no  excuse,  no  palliation,  nothing 
to  be  said  for  him.  There  is  nothing  to  be  said  in  exten. 
nation  of  his  conduct.  Cruelty  is  cruelty  in  any  age  of 
the  world,  and  wrong  policy  is  wrong  policy  wherever  you 
find  it  :  nevertheless,  considering  what  human  nature  is,  it 
was  perfectly  natural  that  Pharaoh  should  not  know  the 
history  of  this  people,  but  should  concern  himself  more 
about  Egypt  at  large. 

Did  Pharaoh  reason  about  this  matter?  Their  increase 
had  been  such  that  it  had  been  brought  to  the  royal  ears. 
It  had  been  represented  to  Pharaoh  that  they  were  a  war- 
like.people,  that  they  were  filling  the  land  of  Goshen,  that 
they  did  not  mix  with  the  Egyptians,  and  that  they  did  not 
worship  as  the  Egyptians  did.  He  looked  upon  them  as  a 
dangerous  element  because  he  thought  they  would  be  split 
up  into  parties  and  factions,  and  especially  because  they 
might  take  sides  with  the  enemies  of  his  countr3^  In  the 
event  of  invasion  from  without  they  might  swarm  on  the  side 
of  the  adversaries  of  the  government.  Such  was  the  view 
which  Pharaoh  took  ;  and  monarchs  of  that  day  were  not 
very  apt  to  go  aside  from  selfish  considerations  any  more 
than  they  are  nowadays. 

"And  he  said  unto  his  people,  Behold  the  people  of  the  children  of  Israel 
are  more  and  mightier  than  we :  come  on,  let  us  deal  wisely  with  them  ; 
lest  they  multiply,  and  it  come  to  pass,  that,  when  there  falleth  out  any 
war,  they  join  also  unto  our  enemies,  and  fight  against  us,  and  so  get  them 
up  out  of  the  land." 

He  did  not  want  to  lose  them,  any  more  than  the  plant- 
ers of  the  South  once  wanted  to  lose  the  negroes  ;  but  he 
wanted  to  hold  them  in  certain  conditions. 

"  Therefore  thev  did  set  over  them  taskmasters  to  aiiflict  them  with  their 
burdens.  And  they  built  for  Pharaoh  treasure  cities,  Pithom  and  Raani- 
ses." 

That  is  to  say,  "Let  us  subject  this  warlike  tribe  by  the 
discipline  of  regular  industrial  organization.     Let  us  give 


MOSES. 


173 


them  so  much  to  do  that  they  will  not  have  time  for  mis- 
chief-making. Let  us  employ  them  in  building  cities, 
military  depots,  and  canals.  Let  us  see  to  it  that  they  are 
so  fully  occupied  that  they  will  have  no  opportunity  for 
plotting  treason.  Let  us  break  their  spirit  by  exhausting 
their  strength  in  useful  labor."     That  was  the  plan. 

"  But  the  more  they  afflicted  them,  the  more  they  multiplied  and  grew. 
And  they  were  grieved  because  of  the  children  of  Israel.  And  the  Egyp- 
tians made  the  children  of  Israel  to  serve  with  rigor." 

It  was  a  kind  of  brutal  experiment  ;  and  when  it  did  not 
succeed, — 

* 

*'  They  made  their  lives  bitter  with  hard  bondage,  in  mortar,  and  in  brick, 
and  in  all  manner  of  service  in  the  field  :  all  their  service,  wherein  they 
made  them  serve,  was  with  rigor." 

It  was  hard  goodness  ;  for  if  there  was  anything  that  the 
Israelites  needed  it  was  to  have  their  wild  discursive  spirit 
tamed,  and  to  be  taught  industry — how  to  do  many  things 
that  they  did  thus  learn.  And  when  Pharaoh  wanted 
handicraft  men  he  had  them.  They  were  apprenticed  out 
to  Pharaoh.  But,  as  we  have  seen,  they  still  multiplied  :  it 
must  have  taken  many  years  to  reveal  this  briefly  stated 
fact.  So  soon  as  that  plan  failed  Pharaoh  fell  upon  a  new 
one  :  he  summoned  the  Hebrew  midwives,  and  gave  them 
orders  to  destroy  in  birth  the  male  children.  Female  serv- 
ants were  not  to  be  dreaded  in  war,  and  they  were  use- 
ful as  beasts  of  burden. 

That  order  led  to  a  series  of  deceptions,  such  as  you  will 
find  among  animals  and  in  connection  with  the  lower  con- 
ditions of  human  society.  The  midwives  deceived  the 
king  :  and  when  he  called  them  to  account,  they  said  the 
reason  was  that  the  Hebrew  women  did  not  employ  their 
services  ;  that  they  did  not  need  them  as  the  Egyptians  did, 
and  that  therefore  the  children  were  born  without  their 
knowledge.    They  lied.   The  record  goes  further,  and  says, — 

"Therefore  God  dealt  well  with  the  midwives:  and  the  people  multi- 
plied, and  waxed  very  mighty.  And  it  came  to  pass,  because  the  midwives 
feared  God,  that  he  made  them  houses." 

That  is,  built  up  their  households,  or  families. 


174  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

There  is  no  doubt  that,  to  the  Israelites,  this  lie  that  the 
women  told  in  behalf  of  humanity  was  a  virtue.  Cunning 
and  craft  as  against  oppression  has  always  been  considered 
a  virtue  ;  and  it  is  considered  as  much  a  virtue  in  our  time 
as  ever  it  was  in  the  olden  time.  We  organize  it  into 
method,  and  we  practice  in  our  diplomacy  and  military 
operations  the  same  craft  and  deceit  which  were  practiced 
by  early  nations. 

Is  it  put  down  against  any  great  soldier  that  he  sent  out 
couriers  with  letters  containing  false  information,  that  he 
deceived  the  enemy,  and  caught  them  in  traps  that  he  set 
for  them  ?  I  never  heard  any  very  vehement  declarations 
against  military  cunning,  which,  to  give  the  plain  English 
of  it,  is  lying.  It  is  not  fair,  however,  to  suppose  that  God 
rewarded  their  falsehood.  They  "  feared  God  "  and  pro- 
tected what  they  believed  to  be  his  chosen  people.  They 
were  instruments  of  great  humanity.  They  were  rewarded 
for  their  patriotism,  their  national  spirit. 

Failing  in  this  attempt  to  destroy  all  the  male  children 
that  were  born,  Pharaoh  gave  command  to  his  people  to 
issue  a  proclamation,  saying, — 

"  Every  son  that  is  born  ye  shall  cast  into  the  river,  and  every  daughter 
ye  shall  save  alive." 

It  is  to  be  presumed  that  such  an  edict  as  this  was  pro- 
mulged  chiefly  along  the  banks  of  the  river  where  a  large 
part  of  the  Israelites  dwelt,  and  did  not  extend  far  to  the 
north  or  southeast.  If  there  had  been  a  rigorous  enforce- 
ment of  it  there  could  not  have  been  such  an  augmentation 
of  the  nation  as  took  place,  and  prepared  them  to  go  forth 
with  such  a  great  multitude.  It  must  have  had  a  limited 
application  ;  and  even  in  the  small  sphere  where  it  was 
applied  it  is  not  to  be  supposed,  while  great  cruelty  was 
committed,  and  there  was  an  extensive  slaughter  of  chil- 
dren, but  that  the  mother-love  often  outwitted  the  zeal  of 
tyranny.  At  any  rate,  it  was  the  beginning  of  the  drama 
in  which  Moses  was  the  hero.  And  here,  again,  we  fall 
upon  one  of  those  beautiful  pictures  in  which  the  natural 
heart  breaks  out  in  the  most  beautiful  forms. 


MOSES.  175 

"And  there  went  a  man  of  the  house  of  Levi,  and  took  to  wife  a  daughter 
of  Levi.  And  the  woman  conceived,  and  bare  a  son  :  and  when  she  saw 
him  that  he  was  a  goodly  child  [I  should  like  to  know  what  mother  ever  did 
look  upon  her  son  without  thinking  that  he  was  a  goodly  child],  she  hid 
him  three  months." 

He  could  not  have  cried  much,  or  they  would  have  found 
him  out.  Moses  was  slow  of  tongue  in  after  life  ;  and  it 
seems  that  he  began  early  ! 

"And  when  she  could  not  longer  hide  him,  she  took  for  him  an  ark  of  bul- 
rushes, and  daubed  it  with  slime  and  with  pitch,  and  put  the  child  therein  ; 
and  she  laid  it  in  the  flags  by  the  river's  brink." 

Even  animals  have  the  shrewdest  instinct.  Have  you 
never  seen  a  cat  preserve  her  kittens  ?  I  have  watched  the 
operation  at  my  country  home.  I  have  seen  sagacity  in  the 
mother  that  was  truly  surprising,  as  she  moved  her  young 
from  place  to  place  whenever  she  thought  danger  threat- 
ened them. 

If  that  sagacity  in  a  feline  creature  is  so  admirable,  how 

much  more  admirable  is  it  when,  going  up  through  many 

gradations,  it    develops  itself  in  the  human    heart.     And 

how  shrewd  this   mother  was  !  ■  Did    she    not    know   that 

that  part  of  the  river  was  where  the  daughter  of  Pharaoh 

was  accustomed  to  walk  with  her  maidens,  and  at  times  to 

bathe  her  feet,  and  perhaps  her  person  ?     And  was  not  that 

the  place  to  be  chosen  ?    After  she  had  put  the  child  in  this 

little  basket,  that  was  made  water-tight,  his  sister  and  she 

"stood  afar  off,  to  wit  what  would  be  done  to  him."    They 

watched  him.     I  do  not  believe  he  was  out  for  a  night. 

They  would  have  him  in  over  night  and  out  again  early  in 

the  morning  ;    and  then  they  would  wait  and  watch.     In 

that  torrid  region  there  was  no  walking  at  midday  ;   and 

Pharaoh's  daughter  must  have  walked  either  at  evening  or 

in  the  morning — probably  in  the  morning. 

"And  the  daughter  of  Pharaoh  came  down  to  wash  herself  at  the  river ; 
and  her  maidens  walked  along  by  the  river's  side  ;  and  when  she  saw  the 
ark  among  the  flags,  she  sent  her  maid  to  fetch  it.  And  when  she  had 
opened  it,  she  saw  the  child  :  and,  behold,  the  babe  wept." 

Its  cry  was  the  sweetest  oration  and  the  most  convinc- 
ing that  ever  was  uttered,  doubtless.     The  daughter  of  the 


176  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

proud  Pharaoh  looked  upon  this  alien  child, — for  she  knew 
at  once  that  it  was  of  the  Israelites  ;  and  the  babe  wept  ; 
and  she  was  conquered. 

"  She  had  compassion  on  him,  and  said,  This  is  one  of  the  Hebrews'  chil- 
dren." 

Then  the  shrewd  little  sister  ran  up  and  said  to  her, — 

"  Shall  I  go  and  call  to  thee  a  nurse  of  the  Hebrew  women,  that  she  may 
nurse  the  child  for  thee  ?  " 

It  was  a  lucky  thought.     Pharaoh's  daughter  saw  that  it 

w^ould  be  rather  awkward  for  a  daughter  of  the  king  to  go 

back  with  a  babe  in  her  arms.     She  might  not  have  many 

questions  to  answer,  but  there  would  be  surmises  about  it  ; 

and  when  the  maid  asked  if  she  should  go  and  get  a  nurse 

it  was  exactly  what  Pharaoh's  daughter  wanted  to  have 

her  do. 

"And  Pharaoh's  daughter  said  to  her.  Go.  And  the  maid  went  and 
called  the  child's  mother." 

She   was   all    ready  for  it.     She  had    been    longing  for 

such  a  call.     Do  you  suppose  a  child  was  ever  hungry  that 

the  mother  did  not  know  it?    Nature  is  often  stronger  than 

the  tongue. 

"And  Pharaoh's  daughter  said  unto  her,  Take  this  child  awa}',  and  nurse 
it  for  me,  and  I  will  give  thee  thy  wages. 

"And  the  woman  took  the  child,  and  nursed  it.  And  the  child  grew,  and 
she  brought  him  unto  Pharaoh's  daughter,  and  he  became  her  son.  And 
she  called  his  name  Moses :  and  she  said,  Because  I  drew  him  out  of  the 
water." 

Moses  means  drawn  out.  At  that  time  they  gave  names, 
not  as  we  do,  repeating  the  same  name  over  and  over  :  the}' 
named  their  children  from  some  circumstance  ;  as,  for  in- 
stance, when  Rachel  was  dying  she  called  her  babe  Ben-oni, 
"  Child  of  my  Sorrow  "  ;  but  the  father  said,  "  No,  Ben- 
jamin, Son  of  my  Right-hand."  And  Moses  was  called  by 
that  name  because  he  was  draivn  out. 

"And  it  came  to  pass  in  those  days  when  Moses  was  grown  " — 
That  is  all  there  is  said  in  this  history  about  his  educa- 
tion.    Later  on  we  find  the  statement  that  he  was  broiigJit 
lip  in  all  the  ivisdom  of  the  Egyptians. 


MOSES.  177 


Egypt  then  was  really  glorious.  Rome  had  not  been 
thought  of.  Greece  was  a  den  of  robbers.  There  was  not 
a  refined  people  in  all  Media,  in  Persia  nor  in  Asia.  There 
were  conditions  that  prefigured  civilization  ;  but  at  that 
time  there  was  but  one  radiant  spot  on  the  globe,  and  that 
was  Egypt ;  and  if  there  was  to  be  a  movement  by  the  hu- 
man race  which  should  culminate  in  moral  effulgence,  it 
must  be  made  there.  Abraham's  posterity  were  to  go  into 
Egypt.  And  then,  Moses,  being  born,  and  being  threatened 
with  destruction,  was  rescued  and  put  into  the  house  of 
Pharaoh,  where  was  to  be  found  the  very  acme  of  the  world 
in  all  philosophy,  in  all  art,  and  in  all  religion  as  it  had 
developed  in  the  imperfect  forms  of  idolatry — for,  under 
all  idolatry,  there  is  a  true  element. 

Under  the  religion  of  every  nation  on  the  globe  that 
ever  worshiped  or  that  worships  to-day  there  is  an  element 
of  morality  which  that  religion  faintly  and  imperfectly 
tries  to  express.  There  are  rude  nations  whose  concep- 
tions of  God  are  made  manifest  by  idols  ;  and,  although 
those  idols  are  so  distorted  as  to  amount  to  a  slander  upon 
the  Omnipotent,  they  shadow  forth  an  element  of  truth. 

And  whatever  was  known  of  history  in  the  time  of 
Moses  was  nurtured  in  Egypt,  and  in  the  lap  of  Pharaoh. 
Whatever  there  was  of  mathematics  (and  there  was  a  great 
deal),  whatever  there  was  of  constructive  engineering  and 
architecture  (and  it  was  magnificent)  centered  there.  And 
astronomy,  geometry,  medicine,  and  many  manufacturing 
arts  were  there  well  advanced  ;  while  the  science  of  war 
was  both  taught  and  practiced.  And  Moses  was  thor- 
oughly educated  in  these  things.  As  prince,  he  was  also 
priest,  and  was  broadly  and  thoroughly  trained.  He  was 
encyclopedic.  All  this  concatenation  of  events  and  ele- 
ments was  a  preparation  for  the  work  he  was  to  do  after- 
wards. And  what  did  this  man  think  during  all  that 
time  ? 

The  Jewish  writer  Josephus  details  legends  of  the  mili- 
tary exploits  of  Moses,  who  conquered  Ethiopia  for  the 
Egyptians  and  took  to  wife  the  daughter  of  the   defeated 


12 


1 78  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

king.  He  seems  to  have  completed  a  full  round  both  of 
mental  training  and  practical  experience  to  equip  him  for 
his  real  life-work,  which  was  not  to  be  amid  the  splendor 
of  Egypt,  but  among  the  degraded  slaves  who  were  his 
countrymen. 

One  trait  that  we  honor  is  fidelity  to  one's  own  country. 
Moses  was  brought  up  with  the  knowledge  that  he  was  of 
Hebrew  blood.  He  stood  in  a  place  of  power.  He  was 
surrounded  by  magnificence.  He  had  everything  that  the 
heart  of  man  could  desire.  He  had  the  energy  that  wa«s 
necessary  for  ambition.  But  his  heart  constantly  ran  back 
to  his  own  people.  He  thought  of  them  sympathetically. 
That  sympathy  which  led  Jesus  Christ  to  couple  himself 
with  mankind,  and  made  him  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  was, 
though  not  in  such  grandeur  and  radiance,  nor  in  such  noble 
and  heroic  form,  also  in  Moses.  It  would  not  have  been 
strange  if,  amid  the  blandishments  of  a  court,  he  had  been 
dazzled  into  forgetfulness  and  contempt  of  his  people. 
What  if  they  were  slaves,  and  in  distress  ?  All  the  more  did 
they  need  somebody  at  Court  to  intercede  for  them.  And 
yet,  the  methods  pursued  by  Moses  showed  the  inexperience 
of  the  age  as  well  as  of  the  man.  The  first  effort  he  made 
for  avenging  his  people  was  a  miserable  blunder  in  every 
way.  It  had  in  it  no  foresight,  no  plan.  It  was  a  mere 
blind  impulse.  Blind  impulses  are  sometimes  heroic  ;  but 
oftentimes  they  are  just  the  opposite.  The  narrative  is 
brief. 

"And  it  came  to  pass  in  those  days  when  Moses  was  grown  [There's 
chronology  for  you  !  In  those  days.  It  might  have  been  when  he  was 
twenty  or  twenty-five  years  of  age  ;  but  it  was  when  he  was  about  forty,  as 
understood  from  other  sources]  that  he  went  out  unto  his  brethren,  and 
looked  on  their  burdens  :  and  he  spied  an  Egyptian  smiting  an  Hebrew,  one 
of  his  brethren." 

If  Moses  had  been  nothing  but  a  common  man,  and  had 
knocked  the  Egyptian  down,  I  should  have  said  "Amen"; 
but  Moses  had  in  him  the  movement  toward  a  larger 
sphere  than  that  in  which  common  men  move,  and  should 
have  acted  accordingly,  with  a  larger  wisdom.     Therefore 


MOSES.  179 

in  the  act  which  he  committed,  and  which  is  here  narrated, 
he  was  rash  ;  noble  in  impulse,  but  not  wise  in  method. 

"And  he  looked  this  way  and  that  way,  and  when  he  saw  that  there  was 
no  man,  he  slew  the  Egyptian,  and  hid  him  in  the  sand. 

"And  when  he  went  out  the  second  day,  behold,  two  men  of  the  Hebrews 
strove  together  :  and  he  said  to  him  that  did  the  wrong,  Wherefore  smitest 
thou  thy  fellow  ?  And  he  said,  Who  made  thee  a  prince  and  a  judge  over 
us  ?     Intendest  thou  to  kill  me,  as  thou  killedst  the  Egyptian  ?  " 

Here  you  see  what  slavery  brings  men  to.  Moses  inter- 
fered as  a  vindicator  of  one  of  his  people  who  was  smitten, 
and  slew  the  smiter.  Then  he  undertook  to  stop  a  quarrel, 
to  act  as  a  mediator  between  two  men  that  were  striving 
together,  and  one  of  them,  an  enslaved  man  out  of  whom 
hard  bondage  had  driven  his  manhood,  turned  upon  him, 
like  a  dog  separated  from  another  dog  with  whom  he  was 
fighting,  and  said,  "Intendest  thou  to  kill  me,  as  thou 
killedst  the  Egyptian  ?" 

"And  Moses  feared,  and  said.  Surely  this  thing  is  known. 
"  Now  when   Pharaoh  heard  this  thing,  he  sought  to  slay  Moses.     But 
Moses  fled  from  the  face  of  Pharaoh,  and  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Midian." 

So,  then,  here  was  the  first  scene — a  rash,  impulsive 
endeavor  to  emphasize  his  detestation  of  the  oppression  of 
his  people.  He  had  expressed  his  sympathy  for  them  ; 
but  all  he  had  accomplished  was  to  excite  their  animosity, 
to  bring  himself  into  disgrace  at  Court,  to  make  himself  a 
vagabond  ;  and  he  ran  away  to  save  his  own  life.  As  to 
his  people,  they  were  oppressed  more  than  ever  before. 
The  first  effect  of  an  attempt  to  break  up  slavery  is  to 
make  the  slave-master  hold  his  victim  tighter.  When  a 
lion  has  seized  a  lamb,  woe  be  to  the  lamb  if  anybody  tries 
to  draw  it  out  of  his  mouth  !  Then  the  teeth  grind  it  to 
powder.  When  power  has  long  prevailed,  and  is  con- 
fronted with  resistance,  or  with  attempts  at  emancipation 
or  amelioration,  the  immediate  result  is  not  a  help  but  a 
hindrance.  Moreover,  the  first  effect  of  attempting  to  lift 
men  from  a  lower  sphere  to  a  higher  is  to  make  them  your 
enemies.  He  that  came  to  give  salvation  to  the  whole 
human    race  was  rejected  by  those  among  whom  he  first 


I  So  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

sought  to  perform  his  mission.  It  is  dangerous  to  touch 
the  animal  in  men,  if  you  would  lift  them  up  toward  the 
angels  ;  as  Moses  found,  and  as  Christ  found. 

Next  comes  in  one  of  those  poetic  pictures  which  so 
abound  in  the  Bible.  You  will  recollect  how  Abraham, 
then  Jacob,  and  now  Moses,  carried  on  their  courtship  by 
the  side  of  wells.  These  wells  in  antiquity  seem  to  have 
been  favorably  placed. 

"  Now  the  priest  of  Midiau  had  seven  daughters  :  and  they  came  and 
drew  water,  and  filled  the  troughs  to  water  their  father's  flock." 

Women  had  rights  in  those  days  ! 

"And  the  shepherds  came  and  drove  them  away  :  but  Moses  stood  up  and 
helped  them." 

Here  was  a  courtly-bred  man  ;  and  whatever  the  facts 
may  have  been  in  regard  to  the  methods  he  employed  in 
attempting  to  deliver  his  people,  he  was  not  going  to  see 
seven  women  wronged  and  not  have  a  word  to  say  in  the 
matter.  Thus  he  vindicated  his  gentlemanly  nature — for 
he  was,  a  gentleman,  every  inch  of  him. 

"  Moses  stood  up  and  helped  them,  and  watered  their  flock.  And  when 
they  came  to  Reuel  their  father,  he  said,  How  is  it  that  ye  are  come  so  soon 
to-day  ?  And  they  said,  An  Egyptian  delivered  us  out  of  the  hand  of  the 
shepherds,  and  also  drew  water  enough  for  us,  and  watered  the  flock. 

"And  he  said  unto  his  daughters,  And  where  is  he  ?  why  is  it  that  ye  have 
left  the  man?     Call  him,  that  he  may  eat  bread." 

So  said  the  old  hospitable  priest  of  the  wilderness. 

"And  Moses  was  content  to  dwell  with  the  man." 

There  is  a  whole  year  represented  in  a  sentence  here, 
very  likely.  We  are  not  told  how  long  it  was  before  he  was 
contented  to  dwell  with  the  man  ;  nor  are  we  told  how  long 
it  was  before  Reuel  gave  him  his  daughter  for  his  wife, 
which  he  did. 

"And  he  gave  Moses  Zipporah  his  daughter.  And  she  bare  him  a  son, 
and  he  called  his  name  Gershom  [Stranger] :  for  he  said,  I  have  been  a 
stranger  in  a  strange  land. 

"And  it  came  to  pass  in  process  of  time  [or,  in  the  course  of  many  days] 
that  the  king  of  Egypt  died." 

There's  chronology  again  !     In  process  of  time  !     It  is  un- 


MOSES.  i8i 

derstood  that  Moses  abode  many  years  in  the  wilderness. 
He  was  forty  years  old  when  he  w-ent  there,  it  is  said. 
He  abode  there,  we  are  told,  about  forty  years.  This  was 
a  time  for  discipline,  for  meditation,  for  education  into 
patient  submission  ;  and  dwelling  w^ith  this  simple  priest 
doubtless  he  ripened  inwardly  much  of  the  knowledge  he 
had  derived  from  his  intercourse  with  the  Court  of  Pha- 
raoh. 

"And  the  children  of  Israel  sighed  by  reason  of  the  bondage,  and  they 
cried,  and  their  cry  came  up  unto  God  by  reason  of  the  bondage.  And  God 
heard  their  groaning,  and  God  remembered  his  covenant  with  Abraham, 
with  Isaac,  and  with  Jacob." 

You  would  suppose,  from  this  statement,  that  God  never 
thought  of  them  for  four  hundred  years,  and  that  they 
waked  him  up,  and  that  he  said,  "  Oh  yes,  I  recollect 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  "  ;  but  no,  this  is  the  infantine 
way  of  representing  it.  It  is  the  way  in  which  it  was  then 
perfectly  natural  for  men  to  represent  it.  God's  provi- 
dence was  watching  this  people  all  the  time,  and  while  the 
process  of  development  was  going  on  under  the  great 
stimulating  influences  of  nature,  it  w^as  God  w^orking  upon 
them  through  natural  laws,  just  as  much  as  when  he  spoke 
from  Mount  Sinai,  by  his  voice  of  thunder,  or  when  he 
wrote  the  law  upon  the  tables  of  stone.  He  was  not  then 
more  actively  engaged  in  working  out  the  destiny  of  his 
people  than  when,  in  his  providence,  he  was  preparing  them 
to  increase  and  multiply  in  Egypt. 

"And  God  looked  upon  the  children  of  Israel,  and  God  had  respect  unto 
them." 

At  this  point  we  must  leave  the  narrative  to-night,  to  be 
resumed,  God  willing,  next  Sunday  evening. 

1  shall  now  ask  your  attention  for  a  single  moment  to 
the  analogy  which  exists  between  our  own  experience  and 
that  which  has  been  so  perfectly  sketched  here.  We  have 
oppressed  a  great  people  in  our  midst.  They  made  our 
wealth,  they  ministered  to  our  luxury,  and  we  despised 
them  :  not  probably  more  than  Pharaoh  despised  the  shep- 
herds ;  but  in  our  case  there  was  a  difference  of  complexion 


/82  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

and  feature  ;  and  this  great  nation  wallved  in  the  footsteps 
of  Pharaoh  and  despised  the  Negroes.  Then  came  the 
efforts  to  bring  to  pass  their  emancipation,  which,  in  their 
early  stages,  may  well  be  cpnsideredas  having  been  rash,  as 
were  the  first  attempts  of  Moses  to  vindicate  his  people. 
While  I  honor  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Garrison,  Mr.  Phillips, 
and  men  associated  with  them,  I  do  not  regard  them  as 
being  emancipators.  As  in  the  case  of  Moses,  their  first 
efforts  for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  slaves 
led  to  violent  opposition,  instead  of  accomplishing  the  end 
they  had  in  view.  I  did  not  utter  one  word  of  criticism 
concerning  them  at  that  time  ;  everybody  was  throwing 
stones  at  them,  and,  as  you  know,  I  stood  with  and  for  them 
in  the  matter  of  their  free  speech.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact 
to-day,  I  do  declare  that  the  invective  and  abuse  indulged 
in  by  those  men  did  not  promote  emancipation,  but  had 
just  the  contrary  effect.  Although  they  did  have  an  influ- 
ence in  the  right  direction,  that  influence  was  derived,  not 
from  the  severe  and  rash  statements  they  made,  but  from 
their  appeal  to  that  love  of  liberty,  that  sense  of  justice, 
which  resides  in  every  man  who  has  not  a  personal  inter- 
est in  oppression.* 

The  first  effect  of  agitation  created  by  abolitionists  such 
as  these  was  not  favorable  to  the  cause  for  w^hich  they  la- 
bored. In  the  Eastern  cities,  where  commerce  reigned, 
the  church  was  well-nigh  dumb  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 
There  was  almost  no  testimony  there  in  regard  to  it  ;  and 
the  indignant  utterances  of  Garrison  and  Phillips  were  true. 


*In  a  discourse  preached  February  lo,  1884,  in  memory  of  Wendell 
Phillips,  Mr.  Beecher  said  :  "  He  was  an  aristocrat  by  descent  and  by 
nature — a  noble  one,  but  a  thorough  aristocrat.  .  .  .  He  was  aristo- 
cratic in  his  pride,  and  lived  higher  than  most  men  lived.  He  was  called  of 
God  as  truly  as  ever  Moses  and  the  prophets  were  :  not  exactly  for  the  same 
great  ends,  but  in  consonance  with  them.  .  .  .  The  power  to  discern 
right  amid  all  the  wrappings  of  interest  and  all  the  seductions  of  ambition  was 
singularly  his.  To  choose  the  lowly  for  their  sake ;  to  abandon  all  favor, 
all  power,  all  comfort,  all  ambition,  all  greatness — that  was  his  genius  and 
glory.  .  .  .  He  has  become  to  us  a  lesson,  an  example,  his  whole  his- 
tory an  encouragement  to  manhood — to  heroic  manhood." 


MOSES.  183 

if  not  wise.  But  in  the  great  Western  community,  where  I 
lived,  the  earHest  emancipators  and  strongest  aboHtionists 
w^ere  in  the  church.  The  first  vote  I  ever  cast  in  a  church 
in  my  life  was  in  the  Presbytery  of  Indianapolis,  where  I 
voted, in  connection  with  every  other  man  there,  minister 
or  elder,  that  w^e  would  neither  license  nor  retain  any  man 
who  held  slaves,  unless  he  could  satisfy  us  that  he  held 
them  against  his  own  will,  and  for  their  benefit ;  and  I 
bear  witness  that  the  leading  men  in  the  West  gave  their 
testimony  against  slavery  along  with  Christian  ministers. 
There  are  those  whose  memory  goes  back  with  mine  to 
men  who  labored  in  poverty  for  this  cause  whose  great 
ends  were  unknown,  and  are  not  known  to-dav,  but  who 
stand  so  high,  I  believe,  that  if  I  rise  to  the  heavenly  estate 
I  shall  hardly  be  w^orthy  to  unloose  their  shoe's  latchet, 
shod  with  light  as  they  are  before  the  Throne. 

To  all  the  early  anti-slavery  men — especially  the  Eastern 
abolitionists  —  it  was  constantly  said,  *^  You  only  make 
slavery  worse."  Their  early  counsels,  of  repudiating  the 
Constitution  in  the  interest  of  liberty,  were  overruled  by 
the  providence  of  God,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Israelites, 
events,  in  the  hand  of  the  Divine  Leader,  made  way  for 
wiser  and  more  effective  methods.  And  yet  the  impulse 
was  right,  and  bold  ;   the  beginning  had  to  be  made. 

When  Moses  interfered  for  his  people  they  themselves 
did  not  understand  what  he  meant.  They  cried  out  against 
him.  They  resented  his  early  attempts  to  emancipate  them, 
which  made  their  yoke  heavier  and  their  sufferings  greater. 
It  is  the  nature  of  slavery  to  make  people  ignorant  and 
servile  inside  as  w^ell  as  outside. 

I  will  not  go  farther  with  this  analogy — because  I  have 
not  developed  the  history  of  Moses  and  the  emancipation 
which  he  wrought — except  to  say  briefly  that  the  lion 
would  not  give  up  his  prey  until  he  was  smitten  with  the 
sword,  and  his  ow^n  blood  flowed.  Our  people,  whatever 
they  may  have  talked,  refused  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free 
until  He  who  smote  Pharaoh  with  many  plagues,  and  dev- 
astated his  kingdom,  came  down  in  robust  judgment,  and 


1 84  biblp:  stcdies. 

blood  flowed  to  the  horses'  bridles.  The  God  that  emanci- 
pated the  Israelites  emancipated  the  Africans,  and  let  them 
go  free.  We  are  not,  therefore,  to  read  this  history  with- 
out some  allusions  and  applications  to  current  history 
among  our  own  selves. 


X. 
EMANCIPATION. 


In  the  very  general  survey  which  we  have  been  making, 
for  several  Sunday  nights,  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, we  have  finished  the  book  of  Genesis,  and  now  enter 
upon  the  second  book — namely,  Exodus.  The  contents 
of  this  book  are  divided  into  two  parts  :  that  which  gives 
an  account  of  the  going-forth  of  the  Israelites  from  the 
land  of  Egypt, — the  first  twelve  or  thirteen  chapters, — and 
that  which  gives  a  history,  in  part,  of  their  wanderings, 
but  especially  of  the  institutions  and  customs  which  were 
framed  by  Moses,  and  which  afterwards  became  the  con- 
stitution, religious  and  civil,  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel. 

To-night  we  have  come  to  the  great  drama  of  Emancipa- 
tion. To  me  this  history,  which  is  usually  called  the 
"  History  of  the  Ten  Plagues,"  comes  bringing  remem- 
brances of  my  childhood.  I  was  brought  up  when  there 
were  almost  no  books  for  children.  An  aunt,  revered  and 
beloved,  who  for  a  portion  of  the  time  acted  toward  me 
the  part  of  a  mother,  was  accustomed  to  promise  readings 
from  Scripture  as  a  reward  for  good  conduct  ;  and  as  I 
was  (of  course)  a  good  boy,  I  almost  always  had  the  prom- 
ised reward.  Among  the  favorite  themes  chosen — although 
I  was  not  quite  old  enough  to  enter  fully  into  an  under- 
standing of  that  startling,  memorable,  and  wonderful 
history — was  the  "ten  plagues."  On  the  whole,  I  think 
I  took  more  satisfaction  in  the  ten  plagues  than  the  Egyp- 
tians did.  They  were  very  dear  to  me.  They  gratified  both 
the  upper  and  the  under  nature  in  me — the  sense  of  power, 


Sunday  evening,  December  27,  1878.     Lesson  :  Psa.  cxxxviii. 


1 86  BIBLE  STUDIES 

and  the  sense  of  retributive  justice,  which  is  very  strong  in 
children  and'in  uncultivated  people.  I  would  that  I  could 
look  with  the  same  eyes  and  the  same  unquestioning  feelings 
upon  them  now  that  I  did  then.  However,  other  things 
have  come  in,  and  on  the  whole  the  treasure  of  knowledge 
and  the  great  comfort  of  Scripture  are  a  thousand  times 
more  than  they  were  in  my  childhood  ;  the  Book  has  grown 
as  I  have  grown,  and  has  twined  itself  into  the  habit's  of 
my  thought  and  feeling  and  life. 

I  shall  not  undertake  to  interrupt  the  general  course  of 
the  statement  of  the  narrative  to-night  by  pausing  to  dis- 
cuss difficulties.  There  are  enough  of  them.  Whatever 
theory  you  may  take, — whether  you  consider  this  as  a 
poetical  drama  based  upon  history,  or  whether  you  regard 
it  as  a  historical  statement  of  facts  and  developments, — 
there  are  difficulties.  For  instance,  we  have,  by  the  Gospel 
of  Christ,  been  brought  upon  a  moral  ground  which  leads 
us  to  shrink  from  direct  falsehoods  ;  and  yet,  at  the  same 
time,  they  were  practiced  by  Moses  upon  Pharaoh,  and  so 
related  as  if  direct  deceptions  were  commanded  of  God. 
It  is  said  :. — 

"And  thou  shalt  come,  thou  and  the  elders  of  Israel,  unto  the  king  of 
Egypt,  and  ye  shall  say  unto  him,  The  Lord  God  of  the  Hebrews  hath  met 
with  us  :  and  now  let  us  go,  we  beseech  thee,  three  days'  journey  into  the 
wilderness,  that  we  may  sacrifice  to  the  Lord  our  God." 

The  mention  of  the  number  of  days  was  merely  a  mild 
pretense  ;  what  was  meant,  was,  "  Let  us  go."  But  we  are 
told  that  Moses  was  commanded  to  say  this.  It  is  said  that 
God  commanded  him  to  do  it.  Did  God  tell  him  to  say 
so  ?  If  he  did  not,  where  is  the  narrative  ?  If  he  did,  where 
is  God  ?  There  is  a  difficulty  here,  to  which  I  shall  on  some 
other  occasion  address  myself. 

Then,  again,  if  it  had  been  :  '*'  When  the  Israelites  go 
forth  out  of  Egypt  they  shall  requite  themselves  for  what, 
as  slaves,  they  have  suffered,  by  taking  possession  of  what- 
ever they  can  ;  when  they  go  out  to  the  wilderness,  to  set 
up  housekeeping,  they  shall  remunerate  themselves  for 
laboring  hundreds  of  years  to  increase  the  wealth  of  their 


EMANCIPA  TION.  1 87 

masters,  by  helping  themselves  to  an  equivalent  of  that 
out  of  which  they  have  been  defrauded,"— that  would  have 
been  according  to  the  laws  of  war,  and  not  unjust  or 
immoral.  But  we  are  told  that  they  were  commanded  to 
"  borrow,"  They  were  commanded  to  make  a  pretense  of 
only  wanting  a  little  while  the  articles  they  should  ask  the 
Egyptians  to  let  them  have,  when  they  knew  that  they  were 
going  to  keep  them.  This  gives  rise,  not  only  to  a  question 
of  truth,  of  veracity,  but  to  a  question  of  honesty.  Our 
modern  educated  conscience  takes  exception  (on  Sundays  !) 
to  such  pretenses. 

Then  comes  that  which  has  been  the  difficulty  of  ages — 
namely,  God's  "  hardening  "  of  Pharaoh's  heart  ; — com- 
manding him  to  do  things,  and  then  "hardening  his 
heart  "  so  that  he  could  not  or  would  not  do  them.  All 
questions  which  cluster  around  this  difficulty  have  existed 
through  generations,  and  will  exist.  On  whatever  ground 
you  put  such  questions,  there  are  difficulties  connected  with 
them.  These  difficulties,  as  I  have  already  said,  I  shall 
reserve  for  a  separate  discourse,  in  which  I  shall  give 
them  the  best  treatment  I  can. 

There  are  two  classes  of  m.en  who  read  the  accounts 
contained  in  the  early  chapters  of  Exodus.  There  are 
those  that  look  at  them  from  the  standpoint  of  a  belief  in 
a  personal  God,  who  not  only  is  able  to  work  miracles,  but 
does  work,  and  in  all  ages  has  worked,  miracles.  There  is 
to  me  no  philosophical  difficulty  on  the  subject  of  miracles. 
If  there  be  a  personal  God,— and,  surely,  I  trust  we  all 
believe  there  is, — if  the  whole  physical  globe  is,  in  some 
sense,  a  school  in  which  he  develops  and  educates  the 
human  race,  his  power  to  control  material  elements  so  that 
they  shall  further  his  supreme  designs  among  men  upon 
earth  cannot  seem  strange  ;  so,  it  is  reduced  to  the  simple 
question  of  fact,  Does  God  work  miracles  ?  Did  he  work 
miracles  ? 

The  allegation  that  the  order  of  nature  cannot  be  inter- 
fered with,  and  that  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  it 
has  ever  been  interfered  with,  amounts  to  very  little  with 


i88  BIBLE  STrniKS. 

me.  I  can  believe  that  new  furces  may  be  interposed  par- 
allel with  stated  and  regular  forces,  if  there  be  a  ruling 
God,  and  if  he  chooses,  for  moral  ends,  to  interpose  them  ; 
and  I  can  see  that  if  done  at  all  it  would  naturally  be  done 
in  the  infancy  of  the  human  race,  as  a  substitute  for  higher 
methods  until  they  were  able  to  employ  those  methods.  I 
can  understand,  in  other  words,  that  many  miracles — all 
of  which,  except  those  of  Jesus,  were  wrought  through 
men — were  merely  the  enabling  of  exceptional  men  to  take 
hold  of  natural  laws  higher  up  than  ordinary  men  could 
take  hold  of  them,  and  use  them  with  an  efficiency,  a 
scope,  a  skill,  such  as  men  at  large  cannot  give  them.  I 
believe  in  miracles — not  in  everything  that  is  called  a  mira- 
cle, but  at  large  in  a  system  of  miracles  ;  and,  once  admit- 
ting that,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  so  far  as  miracles  are 
concerned.  It  is  just  as  easy  to  turn  water  into  wine  as  it 
is  to  make  a  grape  from  which  wine  can  be  made.  It  is  as 
easy  for  God  to  perform  special  acts,  if  he  please  to  do  it, 
as  it  is  for  him  to  do  many  other  things  that  he  does.  If 
there  is  an  end  worthy  of  such  interposition  as  ma}^  be 
necessary  for  the  creation  of  a  new  law  or  method  in  the 
physical  globe,  I  see  no  reason  why  he  should  not  exercise 
his  omnipotent  power  for  the  accomplishment  of  that  end. 
And  in  a  history  that,  however  strange  it  may  be  to  ordi- 
nary experience,  unfolds  itself  miraculously,  there  can  be 
no  difficulty  to  those  who  believe  in  a  God  that  can  work 
by  laws  in  a  sphere  higher  than  men  can,  or  that  can  work 
for  special  ends  by  interposing  parallel  forces  alongside  of 
those  "working  according  to  the  usual  natural  laws. 

There  are  those,  however,  who  believe  in  religion  and 
in  the  Bible  to  a  great  extent,  but  who  believe  in  these 
things  as  families  in  reduced  circumstances  in  England 
used  to  believe  in  old  mansions  and  castles.  There  were  the 
structures,  with  magnificent  rooms  in  them  ;  but  then,  it 
was  cold  and  bleak,  and  the  impoverished  family  were  not 
able  to  furnish  them  and  live  in  them.  There  were  vast 
halls,  once  filled  with  kings,  knights,  and  courtiers,  but  they 
were  beyond  the  present  family  necessities.     So,  they  were 


EMANCIPA  TION.  1 89 

unused,  except  that  they  were  given  up  to  rats,  owls,  and 
what  not.  There  are  a  great  many  persons  who  are  so 
reduced  in  faith  that  they  sa}^,  "  The  chambers  of  the  Old 
Testament  had  better  be  shut  up,  for  we  are  not  able  to 
furnish  them  and  live  in  them."  They  make  use  of  certain 
rooms  in  the  New  Testament,  and  say,  ^'  We  are  believers 
not  in  the  whole  Bible,  but  in  a  considerable  part  of  it." 

But,  in"  one  way  or  another,  according  to  what  seems  to 
me  their  aims,  I  believe  in  the  entire  Scriptures.  There 
are  portions  of  the  Old  T^estament  that  relate  to  the  early 
unfolding  of  the  race,  which  are  not  to  be  interpreted  lit- 
erally ;  but  they  remain  as  history  and  as  literature,  and 
are  valuable  for  inspiration,  for  doctrine,  for  correction,  for 
right-living,  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  thoroughly  fur- 
nished to  every  good  work. 

There  are  men,  however,who  cannot  thus  accept  the  Bible. 
They  are  in  our  churches.  They  are  under  our  ministerial 
care.  They  cannot  manage  the  difficulties  they  find  in  the 
Word  of  God.  They  huddle  themselves  in  portions  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  say,  "We  believe  in  so  much,  and  are 
inhabiting  such  and  such  chambers  in  the  Bible,  but  there 
are  rooms  which  we  are  unable  to  make  use  of." 

Now,  it  seems  to  me  that  a  great  deal  more  than  is  being 
done  might  be  done  for  those  that  are  out  of  the  way  by 
reason  of  their  lack  of  faith.  For  example,  can  these  two 
classes  of  men — those  who  believe  in  the  miraculous  power 
and  interposition  of  God,  and  tliose  who  believe  that  God 
never  did  nor  does  work  miracles,  and  that  everything 
comes  to  pass  by  the  regular  accredited  forces  of  nature — 
can  they  both  go  together  through  the  history  of  the 
emancipation  of  the  Israelites  and  make  profitable  use  of 
that  whole  statement  of  Scripture?  I  believe  they  can. 
For  their  sakes  I  suggest  a  supposition — and  it  is  not  at 
variance  with  what  we  know  to  have  been  the  habits  of 
men  in  early  days.  The  suggestion  is  that  the  first  histo- 
rians were  poets.  They  had  the  poetic  instinct,  so  that 
primitive  history,  the  history  of  the  earliest  nations,  was 
more  poetry  than  prose.     It  was  more  or  less  allegorical 


lOO  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

and  dramatic.  Suppose,  then,  that  this  history  was  pre- 
sented as  a  drama  ;  and  not  as  an  invented  drama — not 
like  one  of  Milton's  great  epic  poems,  as,  for  instance, 
"  Paradise  Lost,"  which  was  wrought  out  by  the  imagina- 
tion, and  is  not  a  literal  statement  of  fact,  but  originated 
in  his  own  brain  from  a  mere  hint  in  the  Bible.  It  is  a 
magnificent  poem,  but  it  is  imaginary  from  beginning  to 
end,  not  being  based  on  known, recorded  historical  facts. 
A  great  deal  of  the  matter  in  this  poem  by  Milton  is  from 
the  Bible  ;  there  is  in  it  a  certain  tone  which  reminds  one 
of  the  patriarchs  and  prophets  ;  but  from  the  tentative 
brain  of  John  Milton  there  came  splendid  recitations  of 
scenes  which  never  took  place,  and  the  like  of  which  never 
occurred. 

These,  however,  are  very  different  from  the  allegory, 
"  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  which,  later,  John  Bunyan  wrote  in 
his  prison.  In  this  allegory  the  outside  history  has  no  ex- 
istence at  all,  and  yet  there  is  a  most  admirable  inside  his- 
tory. The  evolution  of  the  universe  by  which  a  man  rises 
from  a  lower  life  to  a  Christian  life,  and  progresses  in  that 
Christian  life,  was  never  put  into  a  sermon  so  successfully 
as  it  is  set  forth  in  this  allegory.  You  have  here  an  alle- 
gory founded  on  fact — an  allegory  all  the  circumstances  of 
which  are  imaginary,  yet  which  is  full  of  truth. 

Now,  is  it  not  possible  that  there  may  be  an  irregular, 
and  in  some  sense  an  anomalous,  internal  drama  which  shall 
represent  substantially  the  progress  of  historical  events, 
and  yet  be  so  constructed  that  there  shall  be  a  filling  up 
by  the  imagination  of  the  intervening  spaces  concerning 
which  there  is  no  record, — a  drapery,  as  it  were,  given  to 
facts  and  sequences, — thus  securing  to  nascent  histories  a 
larger  form  and  a  sublimer  presentation  ? 

I  do  not  say  that  this  is  so  here,  but  I  say  that  it  is  pos- 
sible, to  such  an  extent  that  men  who  shrink  from  a  recog- 
nition of  positive  miracles  may  look  upon  this  whole  history 
as  a  magnificent  drama,  adorned  with  imaginative  ele- 
ments, yet  representing  interiorly,  with  truth,  the  emanci- 
pation and  founding  of  a  nation. 


EMANCIPA  TION,  I  ^  i 

Therefore,  you  can  follow  me  to-night  from  either  point 
of  view — whether  you  regard  the  record  as  an  allegory 
or  a  drama,  or  whether  you  regard  it  simply  as  a  plain  nar- 
rative of  the  wonder-working  power  of  God,  historical 
and  to  be  judged  on  historical  grounds.  I  invite  you  thus 
to  go  with  me,  and  take  in  this  portion  of  Scripture. 

We  begin  at  the  point  where  we  left  off  last  Sabbath 
evening.  The  birth  of  Moses  and  his  preservation  ;  the 
wonderful  providence  by  which  he  received  an  education  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  most  civilized  nation  of  antiquity, 
being  of  the  royal  family  by  reason  of  his  adoptive  mother  ; 
the  fact  that  he  acquired  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians 
and  became  a  great  logician,  reputed  soldier,  and  adminis- 
trator,— these  things  were  recited  ;  but  the  record  is  void 
of  much  information  which  one  would  naturally  expect 
would  be  given  with  them, 

Moses  is  said  to  have  been  forty  years  old  when  he  im- 
prudently acted  under  an  impulse  in  first  attempting  to 
vindicate  his  people  ;  but  here  dates  are  very  uncertain,  as 
they  are  in  regard  to  many  things  which  are  recorded  in 
the  Bible.  At  any  rate,  it  is  an  incidental  matter,  and  is 
not  of  much  importance.  As  though  the  peasant  Hebrew 
mother  was  so  firmly  linked  with  Moses  in  the  brilliant 
court  of  Pharaoh  that  between  her  and  him  ran  the  um- 
bilical cord  of  her  heart,  in  the  midst  of  scenes  of  grandeur 
he  was  the  center  of  her  admiration  and  affection,  and  his 
own  heart  was  with  his  countrymen.  Unwisely  he  slew  an 
Egyptian  that  was  smiting  a  Hebrew  ;  and  the  next  day, 
when  he  sought  to  perform  another  good  act  by  separating 
two  quarreling  Hebrews,  one  of  them  turned  upon  him, 
and  said,  *'  Intendest  thou  to  slay  me  as  thou  killedst  the 
Egyptian  ?" 

When  Moses  found  that  the  thing  was  known,  he  feared 
and  fled  eastward  to  the  land  of  Midian  in  the  Sinaitic 
Peninsula,  and  there,  having  married  a  daughter  of  Jethro, 
the  priest  of  Midian,  he  dwelt  with  him  and  kept  his  flocks. 
This  man,  who,  for  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  was  encyclo- 
pedic in  knowledge,  became,  for  many  long  3^ears — forty,  the 


J92  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

record  says — a  humble  shepherd.     What  his  thoughts  and 
feelings  were  during  that  time  you  can  imagine  as  well  as  I. 
We  now  reach  a  scene  in  which  this  retirement  comes 
to  an  end. 

"Moses  kept  the  flock  of  Jethro  his  father-in-law,  the  priest  of  Midian: 
and  he  led  the  flock  to  the  backside  of  the  desert,  and  came  to  the  mountain 
of  God,  even  to  Horeb.  And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him  in  a 
flame  of  fire  out  of  the  midst  of  a  bush  :  and  he  looked,  and,  behold,  the 
bush  burned  with  fire,  and  the  bush  was  not  consumed." 

It  was  doubtless  an  acacia  bush,  or  tree,  as  that  was  al- 
most the  only  tree  in  that  region.  It  seemed  luminous  to 
his  eye.  It  was  burning,  but  the  flame  was  innocuous.  It 
was  a  light,  a  fire   that  did  not  consume. 

"And  Moses  said,  I  will  now  turn  aside,  and  see  this  great  sight,  why  the 
bush  is  not  burnt.  And  when  the  Lord  saw  that  he  turned  aside  to  see, 
God  called  unto  him  out  of  the  midst  of  the  bush,  and  said,  Moses,  Moses. 
And  he  said,  Here  am  I.  And  he  said,  Draw  not  nigh  hither :  put  off  thy 
shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy  ground." 

Wherever  a  man's  soul  is  brought  into  the  presence  of 
God  Almighty  the  ground  is  sacred,  whether  it  be  in  a 
church  or  on  a  ledge,  on  a  crag  or  in  a  cathedral.  It  is 
holy  ground  where  a  man  consciously  meets  his  God. 

"  Moreover  he  said,  I  am  the  God  of  thy  father,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the 
God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob." 

In  our  day  men  do  not  need  to  be  told  who  God  is  ;  he 
is  the  theme  of  inspiration  from  the  cradle  up  :  but  in 
those  early  days  men  supposed  the  world  to  be  populated 
with  all  sorts  of  gods,  every  great  plienomenon  being 
regarded  by  men  as  divine,  or  as  the  result  of  the  action 
of  some  deity.  There  had  come  out  of  Padan-aram  one 
man  who  held  to  the  unity  of  God  ;  who  believed  that  the 
heavens  above  and  the  earth  beneath  were  under  the  do- 
minion of  one  thinking,  willing,  controlling  God.  To  the 
Israelites  that  one  God  was  unrepresented.  There  were  to 
them  no  gods  in  the  shape  of  naiads  or  spirits.  There  w^as 
only  one  God  ;  and  he  was  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob.  These  three  patriarchs  and  the  twelve  chiefs  of 
Israel  bore  down  to  us  from  antiquity  the  precious  truth  of 


EMANCIPA  riON. 


193 


one  God.  How  far  the  Israelites  had  forgotten  him  in 
their  Egyptian  corruption,  we  do  not  know  ;  liow  far  even 
Moses  may  have  wandered  in  religious  speculation  in  his 
Egyptian  education,  we  are  not  told.  But  his  years  of  re- 
tirement and  meditation  had  evidently  prepared  him  for 
a  great  conviction. 

"The  Lord  said,  I  have  surely  seen  the  affliction  of  my  people  which  are 
in  Egypt,  and  have  heard  their  cry  by  reason  of  their  taskmasters;  for  J. 
know  their  sorrows ;  and  I  am  come  down  to  deliver  them  out  of  the  hand 
of  the  Egyptians,  and  to  bring  them  up  out  of  that  land  unto  a  good  land 
and  a  large,  unto  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey ;  unto  the  place  of 
the  Canaanites,  and  the  Hittites,  and  the  Amorites,  and  the  Perizzites,  and 
the  Hivites,  and  the  Jebusites.  Now  therefore,  behold,  the  cry  of  the 
children  of  Israel  is  come  unto  me :  and  I  have  also  seen  the  oppression 
wherewith  the  Egyptians  oppress  them.  Come  now,  therefore,  and  I  will 
send  thee  unto  Pharaoh,  that  thou  mayest  bring  forth  my  people  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  out  of  Egypt." 

Those  years  in  the  wilderness  had  not  been  ineffectual  in 
Moses.  How  ripe  he  was  !  He  ran  at  first  without  any  call, 
and,  actuated  by  a  vague,  youthful,  romantic  enthusiasm, 
he  meant,  by  his  own  right  hand,  to  destroy  the  oppressors 
of  his  country.  Yet  now,  chastened,  enlarged  in  knowl- 
edge, when  called  to  this  very  same  task  by  the  God  of 
his  fathers  he  shrank  back  in  modesty,  and  said  to  God, — 

"  Who  am  I,  that  I  should  go  unto  Pharaoh,  and  that  I  should  bring 
forth  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt .?  And  he  said.  Certainly  I  will 
be  with  thee  ;  and  this  shall  be  a  token  unto  thee,  that  I  have  sent  thee  : 
When  thou  hast  brought  forth  the  people  out  of  Egypt,  ye  shall  serve  God 
upon  this  mountain. 

"And  Moses  said  unto  God,  Behold,  w4ien  I  come  unto  the  children  of 
Israel,  and  shall  say  unto  them.  The  God  of  your  fathers  hath  sent  me  unto 
you ;  and  they  shall  say  to  me.  What  is  his  name  ?  what  shall  I  say  unto 
them  ? " 

Then  comes  one  of  the  most  sublime  of  enunciations. 
"And  God  said  unto  Moses,  I  AM  THAT  I  AM." 

A  God,  he  is,  that  cannot  be  represented  by  picture,  by 

statue,  nor  by  any  language — a  God  so  vast,  so  wonderful, 

so  beyond  the  measure  of  human  thought  or  conception, 

that  he  is  undescribed  and  indescribable. 

"And  he  said,  Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  I  AM 
13 


194       •  BIBLE  STUDTES. 

[the  Living,  the  Existing]  hath  sent  me  unto  you.  And  God  said  moreove. 
unto  Moses,  Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  Jehovah,  Goc 
of  your  fathers,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of 
Jacob,  hath  sent  me  unto  you :  this  is  my  name  forever,  and  this  is  my  me- 
morial unto  all  generations." 

A  little  further  on,  God  explains  that  he  appeared  unto 
Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  as  El  Shaddai — God  Almighty, 
but  by  his  name  Jehovah — I  Am  (or  perhaps  more  strictly, 
/  JVill  Be)  was  he  not  made  known  unto  them.  From 
this  time  forth  in  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  the  name 
appears  ;  but,  owing  to  the  reverential  fear  of  the  Jews  to 
pronounce  it,  it  has  been  represented  by  the  words  the 
Lord.  The  name  itself,  however,  is  so  full  of  meaning  that 
it  is  a  pity  not  to  have  retained  it.* 

"  Go,  and  gather  the  elders  of  Israel  together,  and  say  unto  them,  Jehovah, 
God  of  your  fathers,  the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,  appeared 
unto  me,  saying,  I  have  surely  visited  you,  and  seen  that  which  was  done  to 
you  in  Egypt :  and  I  have  said,  I  will  bring  you  up  out  of  the  affliction  of 
Egypt  unto  the  land  of  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Hittites,  and  the  Amorites, 
and  the  Perizzites,  and  the  Hivites,  and  the  Jebusites,  unto  a  land  flowing 
with  milk  and  honey.  And  they  shall  hearken  to  thy  voice :  and  thou  shalt 
come,  thou  and  the  elders  of  Israel,  unto  the  king  of  Egypt,  and  ye  shall 
say  unto  him,  Jehovah,  the  God  of  the  Hebrews,  hath  met  with  us :  and 
now  let  us  go,  we  beseech  thee,  three  days'  journey  into  the  wilderness,  that 
we  may  sacrifice  to  Jehovah,  our  God.  And  I  am  sure  that  the  king  of 
Egypt  will  not  let  you  go,  no,  not  by  a  mighty  hand.  And  I  will  stretch 
out  my  hand,  and  smite  Egypt  with  all  my  wonders  which  I  will  do  in  the 
midst  thereof:  and  after  that  he  will  let  you  go.  And  I  will  give  this  peo- 
ple favor  in  the  sight  of  the  Egyptians  :  and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that,  when 
ye  go,  ye  shall  not  go  empty:  but  every  woman  shall  borrow  of  her  neigh- 
bor, and  of  her  that  sojourneth  in  her  house,  jewels  of  silver,  and  jewels  of 
gold,  and  raiment:  and  ye  shall  put  them  upon  your  sons,  and  upon  j'oui 
daughters ;  and  ye  shall  spoil  the  Egyptians. 

"And  Moses  answered  and  said.  But,  behold,  they  will  not  believe  me,  nor 
hearken  unto  my  voice:  for  they  will  say,  Jehovah  hath  not  appeared  unto* 
thee." 


*In  the  spirit  of  this,  the  name  has  been  used  in  certain  quoted  Scrip- 
tural passages,  where  the  personality  of  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  in  distinc- 
tion from  the  "other  gods,"  of  Egypt  and  surrounding  nations,  seems  to  be 
the  point  of  emphasis.  The  American  members  of  the  Old  Testament 
Revision  Company,  in  the  Revised  Version  issued  in  1885,  express  their  pref- 
erence to  "  Substitute  the  Divine  name  'Jehovah'  ivhern'er  it  occurs  in  the 
Hebrew  text  for  '  the  Lord  '  and  '  God.'  ''—Editor. 


EMANCIPA  TION. 


195 


Then  God  gives  him  the  first  sign  :  casting  his  rod  upon 
the  ground  it  became  a  serpent,  and  at  the  command  of 
God  he  seized  it,  when  it  again  became  a  rod. 

"And  Jehovah  said  furthermore  unto  him,  Put  now  thine  hand  into  thy 
bosom.  And  he  put  his  hand  into  his  bosom  :  and  when  he  took  it  out, 
behold,  his  hand  was  leprous  as  snow.  And  he  said,  Put  thine  hand  into 
thy  bosom  again.  And  he  put  his  hand  into  his  bosom  again  ;  and  plucked 
it  out  of  his  bosom,  and,  behold,  it  was  turned  again  as  his  other  flesh. 

"And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  if  they  will  not  believe  thee,  neither  hearken 
to  the  voice  of  the  first  sign,  that  they  will  believe  the  voice  of  the  latter 
sign.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  if  they  will  not  believe  also  these  two 
signs,  neither  hearken  unto  thy  voice,  that  thou  shalt  take  of  the  water  of 
the  river,  and  pour  it  upon  the  dry  land :  and  the  water  which  thou  takest 
out  of  the  river  shall  become  blood  upon  the  dry  land." 

The  Lord  assured  Moses  that  in  these  signs  the  most  of 
his  people  would  have  faith  that  he  came  authenticated  by 
the  divine  authority. 

"And  Moses  said,  O  my  Lord,  I  am  not  eloquent,  neither  heretofore,  nor 
since  thou  hast  spoken  unto  thy  servant :  but  I  am  slow  of  speech,  and  of  a 
slow  tongue. 

"And  the  Lord  said  unto  him,  Who  hath  made  man's  mouth  .^  or  who 
maketh  the  dumb,  or  deaf,  or  the  seeing,  or  the  blind  >  Is  it  not  I,  Jehovah } 
Now  therefore  go,  and  I  will  be  with  thy  mouth,  and  teach  thee  what  thou 
shalt  say." 

Reluctant  Moses  could  not  answer  a  word  ;  but  still  he 
did  not  want  to  go. 

"And  he  said,  O  my  Lord,  send,  I  pray  thee,  by  the  hand  of  him  whom 
thou  wilt  send.  And  the  anger  of  Jehovah  was  kindled  against  Moses,  and 
he  said.  Is  not  Aaron  the  Levite  thy  brother.?  I  know  that  he  can  speak 
well.  And  also,  behold,  he  cometh  forth  to  meet.thee  :  and  when  he  seeth 
thee,  he  will  be  glad  in  his  heart.  And  thou  shalt  speak  unto  him,  and  put 
words  in  his  mouth :  and  I  will  be  with  thy  mouth,  and  with  his  mouth,  and 
will  teach  you  what  ye  shall  do.  And  he  shall  be  thy  spokesman  unto  the 
people :  and  he  shall  be,  even  he  shall  be  to  thee  instead  of  a  mouth,  and 
thou  shalt  be  to  him  instead  of  God.  And  thou  shalt  take  this  rod  in 
thine  hand,  wherewith  thou  shalt  do  signs." 

We  are  to  understand  that  from  this  time  when  Moses 
did  anything  publicly  he  did  it  through  the  ministration 
of  Aaron. 

Now  we  come  to  the  journey  of  Moses  with  his  wife  and 


196  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

two  sons  back  to  Egypt.     There  is  a  scene  of  which  we 
can  give  no  explanation. 

"And  it  came  to  pass  by  the  way  in  the  inn,  that  the  Lord  met  him  and 
sought  to  kill  him." 

The  possible  explanation  is  that  Moses  was  taken  sick, 

but  that  his  wife  supposed  him  to  be  smitten  by  the  Lord. 

"And  the  Lord  said  to  Aaron,  Go  into  the  wilderness  to  meet  Moses. 
And  he  went,  and  met  him  in  the  mount  of  God,  and  kissed  him.  And 
Moses  told  Aaron  all  the  words  of  the  Lord  who  had  sent  him,  and  all  the 
signs  which  he  had  commanded  him.  And  Moses  and  Aaron  went  and 
gathered  together  all  the  elders  of  the  children  of  Israel :  and  Aaron  spake 
all  the  words  which  the  Lord  had  spoken  unto  Moses,  and  did  the  signs  in 
the  sight  of  the  people.  And  the  people  believed :  and  when  they  heard 
that  the  Lord  had  visited  the  children  of  Israel,  and  that  he  had  looked  upon 
their  affliction,  then  they  bowed  their  heads  and  worshiped." 

A  short  life  of  faith  and  of  reverence  ! 

"And  afterward  Moses  and  Aaron  went  in,  and  told  Pharaoh,  Thus  saith 
Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  Let  my  people  go,  that  they  may  hold  a  feast 
unto  me  in  the  wilderness. 

"And  Pharaoh  said.  Who  is  Jehovah,  that  I  should  obey  his  voice  to  let 
Israel  go .-'     I  know  not  Jehovah,  neither  will  I  let  Israel  go. 

"And  they  said,  The  God  of  the  Hebrews  hath  met  with  us :  let  us  go, 
we  pray  thee,  three  days'  journey  into  the  desert,  and  sacrifice  unto  Jehovah 
our  God ;  lest  he  fall  upon  us  with  pestilence,  or  with  the  sword. 

"And  the  king  of  Egypt  said  unto  them,  Wherefore  do  ye,  Moses  and 
Aaron,  let  the  people  from  their  works  [hinder  them  from  their  work]  t 
Get  you  unto  your  burdens.  And  Pharaoh  said,  Behold,  the  people  of  the 
land  now  are  many,  and  ye  make  them  rest  from  their  burdens.  And  Pha- 
raoh commanded  the  same  day  the  taskmasters  of  the  people,  and  their  offi- 
cers, saying,  Ye  shall  no  more  give  the  people  straw  to  make  brick,  as  here- 
tofore :  let  them  go  and  gather  straw  for  themselves.  And  the  tale  of  the 
bricks,  which  they  did  make  heretofore,  ye  shall  lay  upon  them ;  ye  shall  not 
diminish  aught  thereof  :  for  they  be  idle ;  therefore  they  cry,  saying,  Let  us 
go  and  sacrifice  to  our  God.  Let  there  more  work  be  laid  upon  the  men, 
that  they  may  labor  therein ;  and  let  them  not  regard  vain  words. 

"  So  the  people  were  scattered  abroad  throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt  to 
gather  stubble  instead  of  straw.  And  the  taskmasters  hasted  them,  say- 
ing, Fulfill  your  works,  your  daily  tasks,  as  when  there  was  straw.  And  the 
officers  of  the  children  of  Israel,  which  Pharaoh's  taskmasters  had  set  over 
them,  were  beaten,  and  demanded.  Wherefore  have  ye  not  fulfilled  your 
task  in  making  brick  both  yesterday  and  to-day  as  heretofore? 

"Then  the  officersof  the  children  of  Israel  came  and  cried  unto  Pharaoh, 
saying,  "Wherefore  dealest  thou  thus  with  thy  servants?  There  is  no  straw 


EMANCIPA  TIOX.  1 97 

given  unto  thy  servants,  and  they  say  to  us,  jNIake  brick :  and,  behold,  thy 
servants  are  beaten;  but  the  fault  is  in  thine  own  people.  But  he  said.  Ye 
are  idle,  ye  are  idle  :  therefore  ye  say,  Let  us  go  and  do  sacrifice  to  Jehovah. 
Go  therefore  now,  and  work ;  for  there  shall  no  straw  be  given  you,  yet 
shall  ye  deliver  the  tale  of  bricks." 

This  was  more  than  even  slave  human  nature  could 
bear ;  and  when  Moses  and  Aaron  went  back  to  meet  them 
they  said  unto  them, — 

"Jehovah  look  upon  you,  and  judge;  because  ye  have  made  our  savor 
to  be  abhorred  in  the  eyes  of  Pharaoh,  and  in  the  eyes  of  his  servants,  to 
put  a  sword  in  their  hand  to  slay  us." 

Again  they  turned  on  their  emancipators  that  would  have 
been. 

"And  Moses  returned  unto  the  Lord,  and  said,  Lord,  wherefore  hast  thou 
so  evil  entreated  this  people  .''  why  is  it  that  thou  hast  sent  me .''  For  since 
I  came  to  Pharaoh  to  speak  in  thy  name,  he  hath  done  evil  to  this  people  • 
neither  hast  thou  delivered  thy  people  at  all.  Then  the  Lord  said  unto 
Moses,  Now  shalt  thou  see  what  I  will  do  to  Pharaoh  :  for  with  a  strong 
hand  shall  he  let  them  go,  and  with  a  strong  hand  shall  he  drive  them  out 
of  his  land." 

After  a  rehearsal  of  the  various  points  of  history,  to 
emphasize  the  memory  of  the  fathers  and  of  God's  admin- 
istration, there  follows  an  account,  doubtless  taken  from 
interjected  fragments  in  the  narrative,  of  the  heads  of  the 
house  of  Israel. 

"And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses  and  unto  Aaron,  saying,  When  Pha- 
raoh shall  speak  unto  you,  Show  a  miracle  for  you :  then  thou  shalt  say  unto 
Aaron,  Take  thy  rod,  and  cast  it  before  Pharaoh,  and  it  shall  become  a  ser- 
pent. And  Moses  and  Aaron  went  in  unto  Pharaoh,  and  they  did  so  as  the 
Lord  had  commanded :  and  Aaron  cast  down  his  rod  before  Pharaoh,  and 
before  his  servants,  and  it  became  a  serpent.  Then  Pharaoh  also  called  the 
wise  men  and  the  sorcerers  :  now  the  magicians  of  Egypt,  they  also  did  in  like 
manner  with  their  enchantments.  For  they  cast  down  every  man  his  rod, 
and  they  became  serpents  :  but  Aaron's  rod  swallowed  up  their  rods.  And 
he  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart,  that  he  hearkened  not  unto  them ;  as  the 
Lord  had  said.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Pharaoh's  heart  is  hardened, 
he  refuseth  to  let  the  people  go.     Get  thee  unto  Pharaoh  in  the  morning." 

Now,  by  whichever  theory  men  take  of  this  history,  we 
enter  upon  a  scene  which  is  of  like  interest — namely,  what 
may  be  called  the  struggle  between  dynasty  and  democ- 
racy.    It  is  a  contest  between  the  spirit  of  freedom  and 


t98  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

the  spirit  of  oppression,  between  justice  and  liberty  and 
proud  monarchic  power  despotically  established.  The  his- 
tories are  of  efforts  to  make  slaves  free,  and  of  the  bombard- 
ing, the  beating  down,  of  the  dynastic  oppressor.  These 
histories  follow  in  regular  order  ;  and  it  is  to  the  points 
involved  in  them  that  all  these  miracles  are  addressed. 

"And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  Say  unto  Aaron,  Take  thy  rod,  and 
stretch  out  thine  hand  upon  the  waters  of  Egypt,  upon  their  streams,  upon 
their  rivers,  and  upon  their  ponds,  and  upon  all  their  pools  of  water,  that 
they  may  become  blood  ;  and  that  there  may  be  blood  throughout  all  the 
land  of  Egypt,  both  in  vessels  of  wood,  and  in  vessels  of  stone. 

"And  Moses  and  Aaron  did  so,  as  the  Lord  commanded;  and  he  lifted  up 
the  rod,  and  smote  the  waters  that  were  in  the  river,  in  the  sight  of  Pharaoh, 
and  in  the  sight  of  his  servants  ;  and  all  the  waters  that  were  in  the  river 
were  turned  to  blood.  And  the  fish  that  was  in  the  river  died;  and  the 
river  stank,  and  the  Egyptians  could  not  drink  of  the  water  of  the  river; 
and  there  was  blood  throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt.  And  the  magicians 
of  Egypt  did  so  with  their  enchantments :  and  Pharaoh's  heart  was  hardened, 
neither  did  he  hearken  unto  them  ;  as  the  Lord  had  said.  And  Pharaoh 
turned  and  went  into  his  house,  neither  did  he  set  his  heart  to  this  also. 
And  all  the  Egyptians  digged  around  about  the  river  for  water  to  drink ; 
for  they  could  not  drink  of  the  water  of  the  river." 

Then  Moses  and  Aaron  go  to  Pharaoh  again  and  threaten 
another  plague  upon  him. 

"And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  Go  unto  Pharaoh,  and  say  unto  him, 
Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Let  my  people  go,  that  they  may  serve  me.  And  if 
thou  refuse  to  let  them  go,  behold,  I  will  smite  all  thy  borders  with  frogs: 
and  the  river  shall  bring  forth  frogs  abundantly,  which  shall  go  up  and 
come  into  thine  house,  and  into  thy  bedchamber,  and  upon  thy  bed,  and  into 
the  house  of  thy  servants,  and  upon  thy  j^eople,  and  into  thine  ovens,  and 
into  thv  kneadingtroughs  :  and  the  frogs  sha,ll  come  up  both  on  thee,  and 
upon  thy  people,  and  upon  all  thy  servants.  And  the  Lord  spake  unto 
Moses,  Say  unto  Aaron,  Stretch  forth  thine  hand  with  thy  rod  over  the 
streams,  over  the  rivers,  and  over  the  ponds,  and  cause  frogs  to  come  up 
upon  the  land  of  Egypt." 

A  few  frogs  might  be  evaded  or  avoided,  though  with 
disgust ;  but  to  have  the  whole  land  carpeted  witli  them, 
to  step  on  them,  to  go  wading  among  them  as  in  the  mud,' 
and  crushing  them  under  one's  feet,  would  be  disagreeable, 
to  say  the  least.  There  was  not,  perhaps,  anything  ter- 
rific in  it   but  there  was  enough  tliat  was  repulsive. 


£MANCIFA  TION.  i  99 

"Then  Pharaoh  called  for  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  said,  Intreat  Jehovah, 
that  he  may  take  away  the  frogs  from  me,  and  from  my  people ;  and  I  will 
let  the  people  go,  that  they  may  do  sacrifice  unto  Jehovah.  And  Moses  said 
unto  Pharaoh,  Glory  over  me :  when  shall  I  intreat  for  thee,  and  for  thy 
servants,  and  for  thy  people,  to  destroy  the  frogs  from  thee  and  thy  houses, 
that  they  may  remain  in  the  river  only  ?  And  he  said,  To-morrow.  And  he 
said,  Be  it  according  to  thy  word  :  that  thou  mayest  know  that  there  is  none 
like  unto  Jehovah  our  God.  And  the  frogs  shall  depart  from  thee,  and 
from  thy  houses,  and  from  thy  servants,  and  from  thy  people ;  they  shall  re- 
main in  the  river  only. 

"And  Moses  and  Aaron  went  out  from  Pharaoh:  and  Moses  cried  unto 
the  Lord  because  of  the  frogs  which  he  had  brought  against  Pharaoh.  And 
the  Lord  did  according  to  the  word  of  Moses ;  and  the  frogs  died  out  of  the 
houses,  out  of  the  villages,  and  out  of  the  fields.  And  they  gathered  them 
together  upon  heaps  :  and  the  land  stank." 

When  the  evil  was  removed  Pharaoh  returned  to  his 
obstinacy. 

"And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Say  unto  Aaron,  Stretch  out  thy  rod, 
and  smite  the  dust  of  the  land,  that  it  may  become  lice  throughout  all  the 
land  of  Egypt." 

This  Vv''as  bringing  the  matter  home  ! 

"And  they  did  so  :  for  Aaron  stretched  out  his  hand  with  his  rod,  and 
smote  the  dust  of  the  earth,  and  it  became  lice  in  man,  and  in  beast ;  all 
the  dust  of  the  land  became  lice  throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt.  And 
the  magicians  did  so  with  their  enchantments  to  bring  forth  lice,  but  they 
could  not :  so  there  were  lice  upon  man,  and  upon  beast.  Then  the  magi- 
cians said  unto  Pharaoh,  This  is  the  finger  of  God  :  and  Pharaoh's  heart 
was  hardened,  and  he  hearkened  not  unto  them ;  as  the  Lord  had  said. 

"And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Rise  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  stand 
before  Pharaoh ;  lo,  he  cometh  forth  to  the  water  ;  and  say  unto  him,  Thus 
saith  Jehovah,  Let  my  people  go,  that  they  may  serve  me.  Else,  if  thou 
wilt  not  let  my  people  go,  behold,  I  will  send  swarms  of  flies  upon  thee, 
and  upon  thy  servants,  and  upon  thy  people,  and  into  thy  houses :  and  the 
houses  of  the  Egyptians  shall  be  full  of  swarms  of  flies,  and  also  the  ground 
whereon  they  are.  And  I  will  sever  in  that  day  the  land  of  Goshen,  in 
which  my  people  dwell,  that  no  swarms  of  flies  shall  be  there  ;  to  the 
end  thou  mayest  know  that  I  am  Jehovah  in  the  midst  of  the  earth.  And  I 
will  put  a  division  between  my  people  and  thy  people  :  to-morrow  shall 
this  sipn  be. 

"And  the  Lord  did  so ;  and  there  came  a  grievous  swarm  of  flies  into  the 
house  of  Pharaoh,  and  into  his  servants'  houses,  and  into  all  the  land  of 
Egypt ;  the  land  was  corrupted  by  reason  of  the  swarm  of  flies.  And  Pha- 
raoh called  for  Moses  and  for  Aaron,  and  said.  Go  ye,  sacrifice  to  your  God 
in  the  land  [that  is,  here,  in  Egypt].     And  Moses  said,  It  is  not  meet  so  to 


200  BIBLE  STUDIES, 

do  ;  for  we  shall  sacrifice  the  abomination  of  the  Egyptians  to  the  Lord  our 
God  :  lo,  shall  we  sacrifice  the  abomination  of  the  Egyptians  before  their 
eyes,  and  will  they  not  stone  us  ?  We  will  go  three  days'  journey  into  the 
wilderness,  and  sacrifice  to  Jehovah  our  God ;  as  he  shall  command  us. 
And  Pharaoh  said,  I  will  let  you  go,  that  ye  may  sacrifice  to  Jehovah,  your 
God,  in  the  wilderness;  only  ye  shall  not  go  very  far  away  :  ihtreatfor  me. 

"And  Moses  said,  Behold,  I  go  out  from  thee,  and  I  will  intreat  Jehovah 
that  the  swarms  of  flies  may  depart  from  Pharaoh,  from  his  servants,  and 
from  his  people,  to-morrow :  but  let  not  Pharaoh  deal  deceitfully  any  more 
in  not  letting  the  people  go  to  sacrifice  to  Jehovah. 

"And  Moses  went  out  from  Pharaoh,  and  intreated  the  Lord.  And  the 
Lord  did  according  to  the  word  of  Moses ;  and  he  removed  the  swarms  of 
flies  from  Pharaoh,  from  his  servants,  and  from  his  people  :  there  remained 
not  one.  And  Pharaoh  hardened  his  heart  at  this  time  also,  neither  would 
he  let  the  people  go." 

Then  still  more  strenuous  measures  were  resorted  to. 

"All  the  cattle  of  Egypt  died  ;  but  of  the  cattle  of  the  children  of 
Israel  died  not  one.  And  Pharaoh  sent,  and,  behold,  there  was  not 
one  of  the  cattle  of  the  Israelites  dead.  And  the  heart  of  Pharaoh  was 
hardened,  and  he  did  not  let  the  people  go. 

"  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses  and  unto  Aaron,  Take  to  you  hand- 
fuls  of  ashes  of  the  furnace,  and  let  Moses  sprinkle  it  toward  the  heaven 
in  the  sight  of  Pharaoh.  And  it  shall  become  small  dust  in  all  the  land 
of  Egypt,  and  shall  be  a  boil  breaking  forth  with  btains  upon  man,  and 
upon  beast,  throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt.  And  they  took  ashes  of 
the  furnace,  and  stood  [before  Pharaoh;  and  Moses  sprinkled  it  up 
toward  heaven  ;  and  it  became  a  boil  breaking  forth  with  blains  upon 
man,  and  upon  beast.  And  the  magicians  could  not  stand  before  Moses 
because  of  the  boils;  for  the  boil  was  upon  the  magicians,  and  upon  all 
the  Egyptians.  And  the  Lord  hardened  the  heart  of  Pharaoh,  and  he 
hearkened  not  unto  them;  as  the  Lord  had  spoken  unto  Moses. 

"So  there  was  hail,  and  fire  mingled  with  the  hail,  very  grievous,  such  as 
there  was  none  like  it  in  all  the  land  of  Egypt  since  it  became  a  nation. 
And  the  hail  smote  throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt  all  that  was  in  the 
field,  both  man  and  beast ;  and  the  hail  smote  every  herb  of  the  field,  and 
brake  every  tree  of  the  field.  Only  in  the  land  of  Goshen,  where  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  were,  was  there  no  hail." 

Pharaoh  now  sent  for  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  confessed 
that  he  had  sinned,  and  promised  that  if  the  thunderings 
and  hail  should  be  stopped  he  would  let  the  people  of 
Israel  go.  So  they  were  stopped  ;  but  the  king's  heart 
was  again  hardened,  and  he  refused  to  let  them  go.  And 
Moses  went  once  more  to  Pharaoh,  and  said, — 


EM  A  NCIPA  7  7  ON.  20 1 

"  Thus  saith  Jehovah  God  of  the  Hebrews,  How  long  wilt  thou  refuse  to 
humble  thyself  before  me  ?  Let  my  people  go,  that  they  may  serve  me. 
Else,  if  thou  refuse  to  let  my  people  go,  behold,  to-morrow  will  I  bring  the 
locusts  into  thy  coast :" 

and  he  described  the  plague  that  should  be,  and  went  out 

from  Pharaoh. 

"And  Pharaoh's  servants  said  unto  him,  How  long  shall  this  man  be  a 
snare  unto  us  ?  let  the  men  go,  that  they  may  serve  Jehovah  their  God  : 
knowest  thou  not  yet  that  Egypt  is  destroyed  ?  And  Moses  and  Aaron  were 
brought  again  unto  Pharaoh  :  and  he  said  unto  them,  Go,  serve  Jehovah 
your  God:  but  who  are  they  that  shall  go?  And  Moses  said,  We  will  go 
with  our  young  and  with  our  old,  with  our  sons  and  with  our  daughters, 
with  our  flocks  and  with  our  herds  will  we  go;  for  we  must  hold  a  feast 
unto  Jehovah.  And  he  said  unto  them.  Let  Jehovah  be  so  with  you,  as  I 
vvill  let  you  go,  and  your  little  ones  :  look  to  it;  for  evil  is  before  you. 
Not  so  :  go  now  ye  that  are  men,  and  serve  the  Lord  ;  for  that  ye  did 
desire.     And  they  were  driven  out  from  Pharaoh's  presence. 

"And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Stretch  out  thine  hand  over  the  land  of 
Egypt  for  t"ne  locusts,  that  they  may  come  up  upon  the  land  of  Egypt,  and 
eat  every  herb  of  the  land,  even  all  that  the  hail  hath  left.  And  Moses 
stretched  forth  his  rod  over  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  the  Lord  brought  an 
east  wind  upon  the  land  all  that  day,  and  all  that  night;  and  when  it  was 
morning,  the  east  wind  brought  the  locusts.  And  the  locusts  went  up  over 
all  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  rested  in  all  the  coasts  of  Egypt :  very  grievous 
were  they ;  before  them  there  were  no  such  locusts  as  they,  neither  after 
them  shall  be  such.  For  they  covered  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,  so  that 
the  land  was  darkened  ;  and  they  did  eat  every  herb  of  the  land,  and  all 
the  fruit  of  the  trees  which  the  hail  had  left :  and  there  remained  not  any 
green  thing  in  the  trees,  or  in  the  herbs  of  the  field,  through  all  the  land  of 
Egypt. 

'•  Then  Pharaoh  called  for  Moses  and  Aaron  in  haste ;  and  he  said,  I 
have  sinned  against  Jehovah  your  God,  and  against  you.  Now  therefore 
forgive,  I  pray  thee,  my  sin  only  this  once,  and  intreat  Jehovah  your  God, 
that  he  may  take  away  from  me  this  death  only.  And  he  went  out  from 
Pharaoh,  and  intreated  the  Lord.  And  the  Lord  turned  a  mighty  strong 
west  wind,  which  took  away  the  locusts,  and  cast  them  into  the  Red  Sea ; 
there  remained  not  one  locust  in  all  the  coasts  of  Egvpt. 

"  But  the  Lord  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart,  so  that  he  would  not  let  the 
children  of  Israel  go.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Stretch  out  thine 
hand  toward  heaven,  that  there  may  be  darkness  over  the  land  of  Egypt, 
even  darkness  which  may  be  felt.  And  Moses  stretched  forth  his  hand 
toward  heaven  ;  and  there  was  a  thick  darkness  in  all  the  land  of  Egypt 
three  days:  they  saw  not  one  another,  neither  rose  any  from  his  place  for 
three  days  :  but  all  the  children  of  Israel  had  light  in  their  dwellings.  And 
Pharaoh  called  unto  Moses,  and  said.  Go  ye,  serve  Jehovah ;  only  let  your 


202  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

flocks  and  your  herds  be  stayed  :  let  your  little  ones  also  go  with  you.  And 
Moses  said,  Thou  must  give  us  also  sacrifices  and  burnt  offerings,  that  we 
may  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord  our  God.  Our  cattle  also  shall  go  with  us; 
there  shall  not  an  hoof  be  left  behind  ;  for  thereof  must  we  take  to  serve 
Jehovah  our  God ;  and  we  know  not  with  what  we  must  serve  Jehovah, 
until  we  come  thither.  But  the  Lord  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart,  and  he 
would  not  let  them  go.  And  Pharaoh  said  unto  him,  Get  thee  from  me, 
take  heed  to  thyself,  see  my  face  no  more ;  for  in  that  day  thou  seest  my 
face  thou  shalt  die. 

"And  Moses  said,  Thou  hast  spoken  well,  I  will  see  thy  face  again  no 
more." 

Then  a  great  plague  was  declared.  The  firstborn  of 
every  household  in  Egypt  was  to  be  stricken  with  death 
at  the  midnight  hour,  and  it  was  this,  as  the  most  mem- 
orable event  of  their  experience,  that  was  to  be  handed 
down  through  all  generations  as  a  token  of  the  power 
of  God  over  his  people.  It  was  for  this  sake  that  the 
Feast  of  the  Passover  was  then  instituted,  of  which  an 
account  is  c^iven.  The  children  of  Israel  were  commanded 
to  take  lambs,  preparing  them  in  a  certain  way  for  eating, 
and  they  were  to  take  hyssop  branches,  and  with  the  blood 
of  the  lambs  they  were  to  smite  the  lintels  of  the  doors  and 
posts,  that  the  destroying  angel  might  pass  by, — blood, 
among  all  ancient  nations,  being  the  symbol  of  life. 
Thus  all  the  Israelites  were  protected. 

And  then,  at  midnight,  the  scourge  came,  and  there  was 
not  a  house  in  all  the  city,  nor  in  all  the  suburbs,  nor  in  all 
the  villages,  nor  along  the  line  of  the  great  rivei-,  far  and 
wide,  that  there  was  not  lamentation,  and  the  cry,  "  Death, 
Death  is  here  !  "     Thereupon, — 

"  Pharaoh  rose  up  in  the  night,  he,  and  all  his  servants,  and  all  the  Egyp- 
tians ;  and  there  was  a  great  cry  in  Egypt  ;  for  there  was  not  a  house  where 
there  was  not  one  dead." 

The  whole  people  moved,  that  time,  and  were  urgent 
upon  the  Israelites  to  send  them  out  of  the  land  in  haste. 
So  the  Hebrews  made  their  march.  And  what  a  march, 
without  organization,  it  must  have  been  !  At  any  rate,  they 
went  forth,  pursuing  an  eastward  course.  Instead  of  mak- 
ing directly  for  Canaan,  the  promised  land,  where  it  would 


EMANCIPA  TION.  20  j 

have  been  necessary  for  them  to  meet  a  warhke  people  in 
fortified  cities,  they  turned  somewhat  from  the  east  to- 
ward the  south,  and  came  to  the  head  of  the  Red  Sea. 
There  they  found  themselves  surrounded  on  either  side  by 
mountains,  with  an  arm  of  the  sea  before  them.  Pharaoh, 
having  recovered  sufficiently  from  the  shock  of  the  last 
plague  which  had  been  sent  upon  the  Egyptians,  had  sent 
forth  his  army,  and  was  pursuing  them  ;  and  the  Israelites 
cried  out,  charging  Moses  with  having  brought  them  out 
of  Egypt  that  they  might  be  destroyed  in  the  wilderness. 

But  the  Word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  Moses,  saying, 
"Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel  that  \h^y  go  forwardy 
According  to  the  divine  command  Moses  stretched  his  hand 
over  the  sea,  and  God,  by  a  strong  east  wind,  laid  bare  the 
sands,  so  that  the  fugitive  throng  passed  on  across,  and 
landed  upon  the  other  side.  Pharaoh's  host  followed 
after  them.  The  force  that  had  rolled  back  the  waves  was 
by  the  divine  command  suspended,  and  the  waters  returned 
and  whelmed  the  Egyptians,  and  they  were  destroyed. 

Here  we  leave  the  narrative,  and,  looking  upon  the  far 
shore,  in  that  motley  crowd  we  behold  two  figures — Miriam 
and  Moses — sister  and  brother. 

"Then  sang  Moses  and  the  children  of  Israel  this  song  unto  the  Lord, 
and  spake,  saying, — 

"  I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord,  for  he  hath  triumphed  gloriously : 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  he  thrown  into  the  sea." 

This  sublime  tragedy  thus  ends,  not  with  the  lurid  light 
of  the  plagues  that  fell  upon  the  obstinate  monarch  of 
Egypt  ;  nor  does  it  end,  to  our  imagination,  with  the  irreg- 
ular movement  of  that  great  mob  of  Israelitish  people  :  we 
have  in  our  thought  that  people,  brought  out  by  a  powerful 
hand  and  a  stretched-out  arm  into  a  land  of  freedom,  and 
behold  them  lingering  upon  the  shore  of  the  Red  Sea, 
across  which  they  have  been  so 'miraculously  led,  singing 
songs  of  triumph  and  joy  and  praise  to  Jehovah. 

So,  the  mighty  drama  is  accomplished.  The  name  of 
one  God,  and  only  one,  has  been  celebrated  by  mighty  acts 
and    wonderful  judgments.     The  obstinacy  of  despotism 


204  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

has  been  beaten  down.  Emancipation  has  been  declared, 
and  is  on  the  way  toward  realization. 

If  you  regard  this  as  history,  it  is  memorable  history. 
If  you  consider  it  as  history  couched  in  the  form  of  mag- 
nificent drama,  there  is  no  other  like  it.  There  is  no  other 
drama  that  attempts  to  deal  with  the  mighty  theme  of 
the  breaking  loose  of  a  great  people  from  an  iron  hand. 
There  is  no  other  drama  whose  actors  are  so  sublime — 
whose  heroes  or  prophets  act,  from  day  to  day,  under  the 
inspiration  of  God  himself.  The  heavens  and  the  earth  ; 
the  forces  of  nature  ;  all  the  elements  which  men  have 
been  accustomed  to  regard  as  powers, — all  of  these  are 
brought  into  play  in  this  wonderful  picture  ;  and  out  of 
their  desolate  and  abandoned  condition  this  great  nation, 
by  the  hand  of  their  fathers'  God,  were  transplanted  into 
the  school  of  the  desert  and  the  wilderness. 

Our  next  discourse  in  this  series  will  be  a  brief  rehearsal 
of  their  passage  from  the  side  of  the  Red  Sea  to  the  banks 
of  the  Jordan  ;  and  after  that  I  shall  undertake,  if  life  and 
strength  permit,  a  still  more  difficult  task — namely,  that  of 
presenting,  the  constitution  which  Moses  framed  for  the 
education  and  government  of  that  people.  Our  own  con- 
stitution is  one  of  the  posterity  of  that  of  the  wilderness. 
The  timber  that  has  been  wrought  into  the  fabric  of  this 
great  nation  was  grown  in  the  desert  of  Arabia,  and  the 
architect  of  the  structure  under  whose  roof  we  ourselves 
dwell  was  Moses — the  greatest  name  of  antiquity.  If  you 
take  into  consideration  the  various  departments  in  which 
he  served,* if  you  bear  in  mind  his  prophetic  gifts,  his 
leadership  and  generalship,  his  constructive  power  in  legis- 
lation, his  administrative  talent,  his  literary  and  poetic 
endowments,  his  is  the  greatest  name — except  the  Name 
which  is  above  every  name — that  ever  dwelt  upon  the 
earth. 


XI. 
THE  WILDERNESS  AND  SINAI. 


"And  thou  shalt  remember  all  the  way  which  the  Lord  thy  God  led  thee 
these  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  to  humble  thee,  and  to  prove  thee,  to 
know  what  was  in  thine  heart,  whether  thou  wouldest  keep  his  command- 
ments, or  no.  And  he  humbled  thee,  and  suffered  thee  to  hunger,  and  fed  thee 
with  manna,  which  thou  knewest  not, neither  did  thy  fathers  know;  that  he 
might  make  thee  know  that  man  doth  not  live  by  bread  only,  but  by  every 
word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  doth  man  live." 


Last  Sabbath  night  we  dropped  the  history  of  the  Israel- 
ites in  their  hour  of  triumph,  upon  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
western  branch  of  the  Red  Sea,  or  the  Gulf  of  Suez.  At 
last  Egypt  was  behind  them.  Their  bondage  was  over. 
A  new  life  was  opening  to  them.  It  was  but  a  little  more 
than  one  hundred  miles  to  the  land  that  God  had  sworn 
to  give  to  their  fathers — Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and 
the  twelve  tribes  ;  and  the  way  was  not  difficult.  It  was 
the  way  of  the  caravans,  over  which  almost  all  the  com- 
merce between  the  plain  of  Heliopolis,  or  what  was  the 
easterly  part  of  the  land  of  Goshen,  and  the  southern  part 
of  Palestine,  was  carried  on.  Instead  of  following  this  road, 
Moses  went  three  days  into  the  wilderness  ;  then  he  turned 
southward  ;  and  it  was  forty  years  before  the  tribes  took 
possession  of  the  promised  land. 

The  question  arises,  Why  should  this  have  been  ?  Why 
was  not  the  ordinary  path  taken  ?  If  it  be  replied  that  there 
were  necessities  of  discipline,  as  I  shall  show  in  a  moment, 
it  may  be  asked.  Since  God  was  in  the  way  of  working 
miracles,  why  did  he  not  work  a  comprehensive  miracle  at 
this  time  ?     Why  did  he  not  inspire  the  people  with  miracu- 


2o6  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

lous  courage  ?  Why  did  he  not  disregard  the  Hivites,  the 
Jebusites,  and  all  the  other  ites,  and  let  the  people  go  at 
once  into  the  promised  land  ? 

There  were  two  reasons  that  I  think  will  be  obvious 
upon  their  being  unfolded.  In  regard,  first,  to  this  working 
of  miracles,  neither  then  nor  since — that  is,  neither  in  the 
Old  Testament  dispensation  nor  in  the  New — were  miracles 
wrought  for  the  sake  of  working  them,  nor  for  the  sake  of 
avoiding  natural  difficulties.  They  did  not  undertake  to 
substitute  divine  omnipotence  for  human  will,  education, 
and  faith.  They  were  auxiliary,  occasional  ;  and  they 
were  always  wrought,  not  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  men 
from  special  personal  troubles,  but  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
spiring men  that  were  rude  and  unenlightened  with  the 
highest  conception  of  God,  the  Invisible — for  the  purpose 
of  bringing  down  to  human  comprehension  the  fact  that 
God  maintained  providence,  ruled  in  heaven,  and  con- 
trolled natural  law.  In  so  far  as  it  was  necessary  to  fill 
the  imagination  with  this  sense  of  God,  so  far  miracles  be- 
came a  part  of  the  education  of  the  people  ;  but  to  go  on 
with  them,  and  take  away  all  motive  for  exertion  or  cour- 
age or  learning  by  making  everything  miraculously  easy 
would  have  been  to  have  reared  idiots  and  not  men. 

The  reason,  then,  why  the  direct  path  was  not  taken  to 
Palestine  was,  first,  a  military  one.  It  is  true  that  the  Israel- 
ites had  men  of  war  among  them  ;  it  is  true  that  it  was 
the  policy  of  Pharaoh  to  make  these  men  defenders  of  the 
frontier,  and  along  the  line  that  separated  the  cultivated 
portion  of  Goshen  from  the  wilderness  (it  should  be  called 
a  wilderness,  and  not  a  desert)  beyond.  Along  the  line 
where  he  might  fear  the  incursions  of  wandering  tribes 
or  great  peoples — there,  by  policy,  he  encouraged  military 
development.  So,  when  the  Israelites  went  out  they  were 
not  to  go  devoid  of  experience  in  warfare,  or  of  brave  men, 
as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  show.  Nevertheless,  if  there 
were  a  million  or  a  million  and  a  half  (I  should  rather  take 
the  lower  figure  than  the  higher  ;  because  we  are  not  alto- 
gether acquainted  with  enumeration  as  it  existed  at  that 


THE   WILDERNESS  AND  SINAI.  207 

time,  and  the  tendency  is  to  exaggerate  nunfbers)  thai 
was  a  large  band  to  move.  There  is  notliing  else  in  history 
like  it.  The  only  thing  that  approaches  it  is  the  accoui.t 
by  De  Ouincey  of  the  uprooting  of  the  great  Tartar  tribe 
from  the  midst  of  Russia,  and  its  march  across  the  conti- 
nent back  again  to  the  borders  of  China,  the  land  of  its 
fathers  ;  and  that  was  a  horrible  experience.  There  is  not 
in  any  literature  a  more  wonderful  delineation  of  such  a 
scene  than  that  given  by  De  Quincey.  But  this  journey  of 
the  people  of  Israel  was  more  methodical.  It  was  like  tak- 
ing a  great  nation  out  of  a  fat  valley,  where  they  were 
slaves  and  idolaters,  and  setting  them  down  in  a  hard 
pasturage  country,  where  they  were  to  be  pupils.  It  was 
the  School  of  the  Wilderness  to  which  they  were  going 
They  were  to  become  scholars. 

It  is  probable  that  they  did  not  advance  more  than  ten 
miles  a  day.  The  w^omen  and  children  and  flocks  certainly 
could  not  have  been  moved  faster  than  that.  If  they  had 
crossed  the  southern  borders  of  Palestine  they  would  easily 
have  been  attacked  in  the  front  and  flank  by  those  who  had 
possession  of  the  land,  whose  business  was  warfare,  and 
who  were  armed  and  always  ready  ;  so  that  the  greatest 
disasters  would  have  come  to  them.  They  were  therefore 
turned  away  from  the  northern  route  to  the  east  and  south. 

For  another  reason  they  were  put  through  this  passage 
of  the  wilderness.  They  were  not  fit  for  settlement  in  Pal- 
estine :  they  were  as  little  fit  for  it  as  they  were  for  fight- 
ing their  way  directly  to  it. 

You  will  take  notice  that  in  our  text  the  reason  given  for 
their  carriage  through  the  wilderness  is  that  they  might  be 
educated — for  that  is  the  real  meaning  of  the  statement. 

"  Thou  shalt  remember  all  the  way  which  Jehovah  thy  God  led  thee  these 
forty  years  [this  was  after  it  was  all  over]  in  the  wilderness,  to  humble  thee 
and  to  prove  thee,  to  know  what  was  in  thine  heart,  whether  thou  wouldest 
keep  his  commandments,  or  no." 

They  were  going  into  a  state  of  discipline,  of  schooling, 
that  they  might  develop  the  moral,  social,  and  civil  quali- 
ties necessary  for  a  permanent  nationalit}^ 


2o8  BIBLE  STCDIES. 

*■ 
"And  he  humbled  thee,  and  suffered  thee  to  hunger,  and  fed  thee  with 
manna,  which  thou  knewest  not,  neither  did    thy  fathers  know;  that    he 
might  make  thee  know  that  man  doth  not  live  by  bread  only,  but  by  every 
word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  doth  man  live." 

They  were  to  understand  that  God  was  the  only  true 
end  of  the  highest  manhood  ;  and  that  they  might  develop 
this  higher  manhood  in  the  center  of  the  wilderness.  For 
such  a  purpose  as  that  the  wilderness  certainly  was  good. 
If  the  people  were  to. be  nationalized,  if  they  were  not  to 
be  scattered  into  alliances  on  the  right  and  on  the  left,  it 
was  desirable  that  they  should  have  their  training  in  the 
wilderness,  where  they  would  be  little  liable  to  attack. 
They  were  to  be  compacted  ;  they  were  to  be  brought  into 
obedience  ;  they  were  to  have  institutions  ;  they  were  to 
be  educated  in  laws  and  customs  ;  and  above  all  they  were 
to  have  a  spiritual  religion  opened  up  before  them,  with  its 
truths  and  inspirations. 

This  was  an  immense  undertaking.  It  was  one  of  the 
most  gigantic  conceptions  that  ever  entered  into  the  heart 
of  man — that  of  bringing  a  great  people  out  from  the  midst 
of  the  most  powerful  military  nation  on  the  globe,  taking 
them  into  a  wilderness,  where  there  were  no  cities,  no  vil- 
lages, no  industrial  developments  of  any  kind,  and  there 
drilling  them  as  soldiers,  breaking  them  in  as  citizens,  reg- 
ulating their  habits,  and  inspiring  in,  them  an  esprit  de 
corps,  a  national  spirit  of  patriotism,  that  should  hold  them 
together  ;  and  doing  these  things  chiefly  by  unfolding  in 
them  the  idea  of  a  pure  theocracy,  of  only  one  God,  hold- 
ing in  his  hands  the  heaven  above,  the  earth  beneath,  and 
all  laws  and  influences. 

To  them  the  w^ord  law,  as  applied  in  the  modern  sense  of 
the  methods  in  which  God's  forces  act,  would  mean  noth- 
ing. It  was  long  before  the  development  of  that  theory  in 
the  human  race  What  we  call  natural  laws  were  not 
known  for  thousands  of  years  after  that  time.  Instead  of 
the  modern  scientific  knowledge  of  the  method  of  God  in 
the  administration  of  his  power  through  great  natural 
agencies,  it    was    indispensable   that  a    ruder  government 


THE   IVILDERXESS  AXD  SIA'AI. 


209 


should  be  resorted  to  ;  and  that  ruder  government  was  an 
impression  upon  their  imagination  that  all  the  great  ele- 
ments of  nature  were,  at  one  time  or  another,  under  the 
control — before  their  eyes,  they  being  witnesses — of  the 
God  of  Moses, — the  invisible  God,  whom  it  was  impossible 
to  represent  by  picture  or  carved  statue.  A  great  nation, 
besotted,  servile,  could  not  have  been  taken  and  made  to 
serve  an  invisible  God,  in  Egypt,  and  along  the  valley  of 
the  Nile,  where  they  had  been  used  to  seeing  gods  in  ani- 
mals and  images  and  symbols  on  every  side,  and  would 
have  been  subjected  to  the  attack  and  solicitation^of  neigh- 
boring nations  with  their  idolatrous  tendencies. 

There  is  one  thought  that  may  perhaps  be  of  service  here. 
That  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  Israelites  when  their 
minds  were  not  unfolded  to  the  simplest  ideas  above  ma- 
terial fact  ;  but  now  there  has  developed  a  divine  economy 
by  which  even  rude  and  coarse  natures  in  almost  all 
nations  are  brought  into  a  fuller  understanding  of  the 
divine  nature.  The  truth  comes  in  here  which  I  mentioned 
in  my  second  lecture — namely,  that  inspiration,  or  revela- 
tion, is  limited  by  the  receiving  power  of  those  to  whom  it 
is  made,  and  that  it  is  impossible  to  disclose  any  more  of 
unseen  truth  than  is  within  the  capacity  of  the  men  to 
whom  it  is  given  to  comprehend.  All  the  world  miay  be 
full  of  sunshine  ;  but  if  the  roof  be  slate,  and  the  windows 
be  covered,  and  the  doors  be  closed,  there  can  be  no  sun- 
shine in  the  house.  There  is  darkness  there.  There  can 
be  in  any  structure  no  more  of  the  light  of  the  continental, 
atmospheric  sun  than  can  pass  through  the  aperture  by 
which  it  is  admitted.  And  in  dealing  with  the  primitive 
races  the  divine  interference  was  adapted  not  only  to  the 
wants  of  men,  but  to  their  ability  to  appropriate  what  they 
received.  For  those  early  ages  would  naturally  be  insti- 
tuted an  economy  that  to  us  would  be  full  of  strange  lights 
and  shadows.  More  advanced  methods,  that  would  be 
entirely  understandable  to  you,  would  not  have  been 
understood  by  men  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Moses.  You 
can  well  see  that  what  in  the  olden  time  was  considered 
14 


2IO  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

manly  wisdom  is  like  nursery  talk  of  later  generations.  The 
attempt  to  put  into  the  minds  of  children  ideas  which  they 
have  had  no  experience  to  enable  them  to  grasp,  would  be 
futile.  How  often  the  mother  is  obliged  to  say  to  the 
child,  when  it  desires  information  on  subjects  that  are 
above  its  comprehension,  "Wait,  my  darling,  till  you  are 
older,  and  then  you  will  understand  these  things." 

The  problem  of  the  instruction  of  the  Israelites  in  the 
wilderness,  then,  was  the  problem  of  the  nursery.  It  was 
like  undertaking  to  put  knowledge  into  the  mind  of  an 
unknowing  child.  And  if  sometimes  there  seems  to  be  a 
strange  use  of  natural  causes,  and  at  times  an  abandon- 
ment of  them,  much  must  be  attributed  to  our  ignorance 
in  the  divine  adaptation  of  means  to  ends  ;  to  the  fact  that 
in  the  early  period  of  the  human  race  there  were  obtuse- 
nesses  of  which  we  can  form  scarcely  any  conception,  and 
which  required  striking  methods  to  arouse  the  sluggish 
mentality  below. 

Another  thing  :  when  you  think  of  the  children  of  Israel 
as  being  in  a  "wilderness,"  you  must  not  imagine  that  it 
was  a  desert,  or  such  a  wilderness  as  that  west  of  Egypt, 
where  sand  hills  roll  as  waves  of  the  ocean.  Far  from  it. 
Modern  travelers  say  that  there  are  but  one  or  two  places 
in  the  Sinaitic  Peninsula  where  sand  prevails,  and  that  for 
the  most  part  there  is  a  rock  formation  there.  The  penin- 
sula, or  portion  of  the  country  inclosed  between  the  out- 
stretched arms  of  the  Red  Sea,  is  not,  in  shape,  unlike  a 
horse-shoe,  bent  out  a  little  ;  and  the  central  part  of  it  is 
rocky -upland.  The  lower  section  is  mountainous.  Be- 
tween the  mountains  run  sinuous  valleys,  not  altogether 
barren,  and  yet  not  fertile  like  our  western  valleys,  but, 
with  their  water  courses,  affording  a  very  fair  sustenance 
for  herds,  for  flocks  of  sheep,  and  for  goats.  Here  and 
there  was  an  oasis  on  which  grass  and  shrubs  and  herbs 
grew  ;  and  the  Israelites  went  forth  with  large  flocks  and 
herds;  and  as  they  traveled  from  place  to  place,  pasturing 
their  animals  as  they  went,  much  of  their  subsistence  con- 
sisted of  milk. 


THE   WILDERNESS  AXD  SINAI.  '    21 1 

It  is  probable  that  in  the  ancient  day  there  was  far  bet- 
ter herbage  in  that  region  than  there  is  now.  We  know 
that  in  Palestine,  for  instance,  in  the  time  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scripture,  it  was  clothed  with  forests,  while  to-day- 
there  is  not  in  all  of  Palestine  a  good-sized  tree.  For  pur- 
poses of  war,  or  other  uses,  the  growth  has  been  almost 
entirely  cut  away.  Although  there  may  be  new  growths 
coming  afterward,  especially  on  the  part  east  of  the  Jordan, 
other  portions  have  been  denuded  to  such  an  extent  that 
Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  would  not  enter  them.  If 
they  came  to  them  and  looked  at  them,  they  would  pass 
them  by.  The  same  causes  have  laid  bare  the  Sinaitic 
wilderness.  There  were  formerly  more  trees,  shrubs,  under- 
growth, and  grasses  there  than  there  are  to-day. 

Looking,  then,  upon  the  mission  of  Moses,  and  his  pur- 
pose to  inform  and  train  this  horde  of  degraded  slaves  into 
a  great  nation,  and  looking  upon  this  rocky  and  pastoral 
wilderness  as  a  schoolhouse,  let  us  follow  them  on  their 
way  to  school. 

First,  we  shall  notice  the  three  murmurings  with  which 
this  part  of  their  history  opens. 

"  So  Moses  brought  Israel  from  the  Red  Sea,  and  they  went  out  into  the 
wilderness  of  Shur ;  and  they  went  three  days  in  the  wilderness,  and  found 
no  water.  And  when  they  came  to  Marah,  they  could  not  drink  of  the 
waters  of  Marah,  for  they  were  bitter." 

Probably  they  were  alkaline. 

"And  the  people  murmured  against  Moses  [of  course  against  Moses — on 
the  leader  of  any  people  come  all  the  complaints],  saying,  What  shall  we 
drink.''  And  he  cried  unto  the  Lord;  and  the  Lord  showed  him  a  tree, 
which  when  he  had  cast  into  the  waters  the  waters  were  made  sweet :  there 
he  made  for  them  a  statute  and  an  ordinance,  and  there  he  proved  them, 
and  said,  If  thou  wilt  diligently  hearken  to  the  voice  of  Jehovah  thy  God, 
and  wilt  do  that  which  is  right  in  his  sight,  and  wilt  give  ear  to  his  com- 
mandments, and  keep  all  his  statutes,  I  will  put  none  of  these  diseases  upon 
thee,  which  I  have  brought  upon  the  Egyptians  :  for  lam  Jehovah  that 
healeth  thee." 

Does  anyone  say  that  to  work  a  miracle  and  sweeten  a 
bitter  spring  is  scarcely  worthy  of  God,  who  is  the  governor 
of  the  processes  of  the  natural  world  ?     But  was  it  not 


212  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

worthy  of  Moses,  the  schoohxiaster  of  a  nation,  was  it  not 
wise  in  him,  when  he  desired  to  impress  upon  them  the 
reality  of  the  divine  presence  and  power  in  every  natural 
agency,  to  take  an  occasion  like  this  to  bring  to  bear 
upon  the  imagination  and  conviction  of  this  great  people 
the  fact  that  God  had  sweetened  these  waters  right  before 
their  eyes,  and  incline  them  to  believe,  and  to  say,  "  There 
is  a  God,  an  invisible  Ruler,  in  the  heaven  "  ? 

"And  they  came  to  Elim,  where  were  twelve  wells  of  water,  and  three- 
score and  ten  palm  trees  [this  gathering  of  palm  trees  remains,  and  has  in- 
creased to  the  number  of  some  two  thousand,  we  are  told].  And  they 
encamped  there  by  the  waters.  And  they  took  their  journey  from  Elim, 
and  all  the  congregation  of  the  children  of  Israel  came  unto  the  wilderness 
of  Sin,  which  is  between  Elim  and  Sinai,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  second 
month  after  their  departing  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt. 

"And  the  whole  congregation  of  the  children  of  Israel  murmured  against 
Moses  and  Aaron  in  the  wilderness  :  and  the  children  of  Israel  said  unto 
them,  Would  to  God  we  had  died  by  the  hand  of  Jehovah  in  the  land  of 
Egypt,  when  we  sat  by  the  flesh  pots,  and  when  we  did  eat  bread  to  the 
full ;  for  ye  have  brought  us  forth  into  this  wilderness,  to  kill  this  whole 
assembly  with  hunger." 

There  you  get  the  level  of  this  people.  The  moment 
they  were  thirsty  life  was  nothing,  heroism  was  nothing, 
and  religion  was  nothing,  to  them.  The  moment  they  were 
hungry  there  was  nothing  else  in  all  the  world,  to  their 
minds,  but  food.     They  lived  for  the  belly. 

"  Then  said  the  Lord  unto  Moses,  Behold,  I  will  rain  bread  from  heaven 
for  you;  and  the  people  shall  go  out  and  gather  a  certain  rate  everyday, 
that  I  may  prove  them,  whether  they  will  walk  in  my  law,  or  no.  And  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  that  on  the  sixth  day  they  shall  prepare  that  which  they 
bring  in  ;,and  it  shall  be  twice  as  much  as  they  gather  daily.  And  Moses  and 
Aaron  said  unto  all  the  children  of  Israel,  At  even,  then  ye  shall  know  that 
Jehovah  hath  brought  you  out  from  the  land  of  Egypt :  and  in  the  morning, 
then  ye  shall  see  the  glory  of  Jehovah ;  for  that  he  heareth  your  murmur- 
ings  against  Jehovah  :  and  what  are  we,  that  ye  murmur  against  us  ?  " 

It  was  as  if  they  had  said,  "  It  is  not  our  power  or  skill, 
but  God,  that  is  leading  you." 

"And  Moses  said,  This  shall  be,  when  Jehovah  shall  give  you  in  the  even-' 
ing  flesh  to  eat,  and  in   the  morning  bread   to  the  full ;  for  that  Jehovah 
heareth  your  murmurings  which  ye  murmur  against  him :  and  what  are  we  ? 
Your  murmurings  are  not  against  us,  but  against  Jehovah.     And  Moses 


THE  WILDERNESS  AND  SINAI.  213 

Spake  unto  Aaron,  Say  unto  all  the  congregation  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
Come  near  before  the  Lord :  for  he  hath  heard  your  murmurings.  And  it 
came  to  pass  as  Aaron  spake  unto  the  whole  congregation  of  the  children 
of  Israel,  that  they  looked  toward  the  wilderness,  and,  behold,  the  glory  of 
Jehovah  appeared  in  the  cloud  [some  light,  some  image,  some  illumina- 
tion]. And  Jehovah  spake  unto  Moses,  saying,  I  have  heard  the  murmur- 
ings of  the  children  of  Israel :  speak  unto  them,  saying.  At  even  ve  shall  eat 
flesh,  and  in  the  morning  ye  shall  be  filled  with  bread ;  and  ye  shall  know 
that  I  am  the  Lord  your  God." 

It  was  right  to  feed  them,  that  they  might  know  the 
reality  of  God,  and  of  his  presence  with  them. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  that  at  even  the  quails  came  up,  and  covered  the 
camp." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  in  each  case  there 
was  a  turning  aside  from  or  overcoming  of  some  known 
natural  law,  and  introducing  some  natural  law  with  which 
men  were  not  before  acquainted.  Anything  that  is  not  un- 
derstood, and  that  excites  wonder,  is  regarded  as  a  miracle  ; 
but  that  is  not  always  true.  This  statement  in  regard  to 
the  quails  is  said  to  accord  with  a  historical  fact  recurring 
to  this  day.  We  are  told  that  they  sometimes  came  in 
flocks  that  almost  darkened  the  sun  at  certain  periods  ;  and 
very  likely  the  account  here  given  may  have  related  to  one 
of  those  instances.  Whether  it  did  or  not,  whether  or  not 
Moses'  long  years  of  familiarity  in  all  this  region  gave  him 
knowledge  of  such  exceptional  resources,  whether  the  cir- 
cumstance occurred  first  at  that  time  or  not,  its  coming  at 
that  time  marked  it  to  them  as  a  divine  interference. 

Then  came,  the  next  morning,  the  miracle  of  the  manna. 

"And  in  the  morning  the  dew  lay  round  about  the  host.  And  when  the 
dew  that  lay  was  gone  up,  behold,  upon  the  face  of  the  wilderness  there 
lay  a  small  round  thing,  as  small  as  the  hoar  frost  on  the  ground.  And 
when  the  children  of  Israel  saw  it,  they  said  one  to  another.  It  is  manna  : 
for  they  wist  not  what  it  was.  And  Moses  said  unto  them,  This  is  the 
bread  which  the  Lord  hath  given  you  to  eat." 

I  have  been  reading,  this  week,  a  long  line  of  discussions 
on  the  part  of  men  who  want  to  show  that  what  was  called 
"manna"  was  an  exudation  from  the  acacia  tree.  They 
want  to  get  around  the  miracle.  I  do  not  propose  to  get 
around  it  in  any  way,  so  long  as  there  is  no  other  solution 


2t4  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

than  that  of  the  statement  here.  You  have  got  either  to 
jump  this  statement  or  take  it.  There  is  no  getting  around 
it  or  modifying  it. 

You  will  take  notice  that  there  fell  enough  manna  to 
feed  about  fifteen  hundred  thousand  people.  There  must 
have  been  a  good  many  acacia  bushes  to  give  out  enough 
gum  for  the  consumption  of  that  number  of  people.  They 
were  to  gather  of  this  manna  every  morning  on  six  days — 
an  omer  for  every  mouth.  An  omer  is  about  three  quarts  ; 
so  there  were  three  quarts  for  each  man,  woman,  and  child. 
They  gathered  it  every  day,  a  quart  for  a  meal.  That  was 
for  bread  only.  They  were,  of  course,  to  have  the  nourish- 
ment which  sprang  from  the  flocks — the  usual  nourishment 
of  wandering  people.  This  continued  during  their  whole 
stay  in  the  regions  of  Sinai,  Moab,  and  Kadesh,  to  Palestine  ; 
but  when  they  crossed  the  Jordan,  and  came  to  Gilgal,  and 
found  old  corn,  they  began  to  eat  that.  Then,  and  only 
then,  the  manna  was  withheld  from  them. 

This  is  the  statement  ;  and  if  you  can  make  any  natural 
explanation  of  it  you  are  more  ingenious  than  I  am,  or  than 
I  can  conceive  anybody  to  be.  It  is  in  accordance  with  the 
faith  of  the  people  at  the  time,  and  of  the  people  that  came 
after  them.  It  has  entered  into  Christian  literature  every- 
where, and  Christian  faith  throughout  the  world.  It  is 
supposed  that  this  manna  fell  down  frorti  heaven  every 
morning.  The  falling  down  of  manna  every  morning  from 
heaven  is  very  properly  expressed,  and  likened  to  the 
down-coming  of  the  divine  influence  upon  our  souls.  The 
inspiration  and  the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost  vouchsafed 
to  men  is  represented,  in  the  minds  of  men,  by  the  descent 
of  the  manna  to  the  people  in  the  wilderness. 

On  the  Sabbath  there  was  to  be  no  gathering.  The 
acacia  bushes  would  not  bear  on  the  Sabbath  !  On  the 
day  before  they  bore  twice  as  much  as  on  other  week  days, 
and  the  children  of  Israel  were  commanded  to  gather  two  • 
omers  ;  and  although  on  every  other  day  this  exudation, 
this  manna,  would  keep  only  during  twenty-four  hours, 
that  which  they  gathered  on  Friday  kept  all  that  day  and 


THE   WILDERNESS  AND  SINAI.  215 

through  the  Sabbath.  The  amount  of  it,  the  continuance 
of  it,  and  the  peculiarities  of  its  condition  in  their  hands, 
all  seem  to  lead  to  one  single  conclusion — either  that  the 
statement  is  absolute  fiction  or  that  it  is  a  fact.  If  it  is 
a  fact  it  is  a  miracle, — and  a  most  stupendous  miracle.  It 
stands  over  against  the  greatest  miracle  of  Christ ;  for  3'ou 
will  recall  that  while  raising  the  dead  was  in  some  respects 
to  us  among  the  most  wonderful  acts  wrought  by  Christ, 
yet  a  greater  act  performed  by  him  was  the  feeding  of  the 
five  thousand  by  the  multiplying  of  the  loaf.  When  this 
latter  miracle  was  wrought  it  produced  such  an  effect  on 
the  imagination  of  the  people  that  they  declared  that  God 
had  come,  that  here  w^as  a  king,  and  that  he  should  be 
crowned  ;  and  they  sought  to  take  him  by  violence  and 
compel  him  to  lead  them  to  glory  and  to  victory.  This 
sending  of  the  manna  was  more  impressive  than  the  light 
that  went  by  night  and  the  cloud  that  went  by  day  before 
the  people  of  God. 

The  next  and  third  murmuringwasfor  the  same  reason — 
the  want  of  something  to  drink. 

"And  all  the  congregation  of  the  children  of  Israel  journeyed  from  the 
wilderness  of  Sin,  after  their  journeys,  according  to  the  commandment  of 
the  Lord,  and  pitched  in  Rephidim  [the  precise  locality  we  cannot  now  de- 
termine], and  there  was  no  water  for  the  people  to  drink.  Wherefore  the 
people  did  chide  with  Moses,  and  said.  Give  us  water  that  we  may  drink. 
And  Moses  said  unto  them,  Why  chide  ye  with  me  ?  wherefore  do  ye 
tempt  Jehovah  ?  And  the  people  thirsted  there  for  water  ;  and  the  people 
murmured  against  Moses,  and  said,  Wherefore  is  this  that  thou  hast  brought 
us  up  out  of  Egypt,  to  kill  us  and  our  children  and  our  cattle  with  thirst? 
And  Moses  cried  unto  Jehovah,  saying.  What  shall  I  do  unto  this  people  ? 
they  be  almost  ready  to  stone  me." 

There  never  has  been  a  king  or  president  since  that  time 
who  has  not  felt  the  same  way.  When  anything  goes 
wrong  the  people  want  to  stone  the  leader  or  head  of  the 
party  or  nation. 

"And  Jehovah  said  unto  Moses,  Go  on  before  the  people,  and  take  with 
thee  of  the  elders  of  Israel  ;  and  thy  rod,  wherewith  thou  smotest  the  river, 
take  in  thine  hand,  and  go.  Behold,  I  will  stand  before  thee  there  upon  the 
rock  in  Horeb ;  and  thou  shalt  smite  the  rock,  and  there  shall  come  water 
out  of  it,  that  the  people  may  drink.     And  Moses  did  so  in  the  sight  of  the 


2i6  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

elders  of  Israel.  And  he  called  the  name  of  the  place  IMassah  [Tempting,  or 
Provmg],  and  Meribah  [Chiding,  or  Strife],  because  of  the  chiding  of  the 
children  of  Israel,  and  because  they  tempted  the  Lord,  saying,  Is  Jehovah 
among  us,  or  not  ?  " 

That  event  has  wrought  itself  into  the  history   of  the 
world.     The  familiar  and  beautiful  hymn — 

"  Rock  of  ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  thee," 

had  its  origin  in  this  scene. 

Again,  then,  the  people  were  supplied  with  water  by  the 
miraculous  interposition  of  God  through  his  servant  Moses. 

At  this  point  the  Israelites  had  their  first  conflict.  Tid- 
ings came  to  them  that  a  great  people  had  broken  into 
their  pastoral  grounds.  Amalek  had  sent  out  couriers, 
gathered  together  a  great  army,  and  fallen  upon  the  Israel- 
ites. By  this  time,  doubtless,  considerable  order  had  been 
introduced  into  the  camp  of  the  children  of  Israel,  and 
when  Amalek  attacked  them  they  were  not  altogether 
unprepared  for  self-defense.  Not  much  is  told  about  the 
fighting  ;  but  the  same  thought  runs  through  this  part  of 
the  history  as  through  other  portions — namely,  that  of  the 
attempt  to  fasten  the  minds  of  these  idolaters  upon  the 
sustaining  power  and  protection  of  their  invisible  God. 
Moses  ascended  a  near  hill,  and  stood  as  if  imploring 
Jehovah,  and  as  long  as  his  hands  were  lifted  up  in  an  atti- 
tude of  prayer,  so  long  they  made  headway  against  the 
attacking  tribe  ;  but  as  his  hands  grew  weary  and  fell,  the 
conflict  wavered.  It  is  probable  that  the  people  saw  it,  and 
that  whenever  his  hands  were  lowered  they  lost  courage, 
wliile  when  they  were  lifted  up  they  were  inspired  with 
heroism.  We  know  how  a  fighting  body,  by  a  wave  either 
of  panic  or  enthusiasm,  can  be  driven  forward  or  backward 
at  a  critical  moment.  So  Aaron,  and  Hur  (who  is  repre- 
sented to  have  been  the  husband  of  Miriam's-sister),  held  up 
Moses'  hands  in  prayer.  This  striking  figure  appears  in  . 
literature  the  world  over  to  express  spiritual  help  given  by 
men  to  one  another. 

The  Amalekites  were  utterly  defeated  by  the  Israelites 


THE  WILDERNESS  AND  SINAI.  itiy 

under  Joshua,  who  here  first  appears  as  a  military  leader. 
Just  why  Moses  promulgated  a  decree  of  extermination 
against  these  first  attackers  of  the  Israelites,  in  the  name  of 
Jehovah,  does  not  appear :  perhaps  because  of  some  pecul- 
iar cruelty  in  their  attack.  But  he  did  ;  and  after  the 
entrance  into  the  promised  land  only  a  handful  of  the 
Amalekites  remained.  The  decree  uttered  against  them 
had  been  fulfilled. 

Now  we  come  to  the  most  significant  experience  in  all 
the  wanderings  of  the  Israelites.  It  occurred  around  about 
Sinai,  in  the  peninsula,  in  the  third  month  after  the  exodus 
from  Egypt.  There  has  been  much  discussion  in  re- 
spect to  this  mountain.  There  is  a  cluster  of  mountains, 
much  like  our  White  Mountains  in  New  Hampshire,  with 
which  you  are  familiar.  There  are  eight  or  ten  peaks  in 
the  White  Mountain  cluster.  The  highest.  Mount  Wash- 
ington, is  well  known.  The  question  as  to  whether  a  par- 
ticular event  took  place  on  one  or  another  peak  of  a  cluster 
of  mountains  may  not  be  very  important ;  and  yet  it  may 
be  exceedingly  interesting.  It  is  now  pretty  well  accepted 
that  Mount  Sinai  was  located  on  the  westward  flank  of  this 
pile  of  rugged  slopes. 

We  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  those  mountains  are  not 
simply  craggy  hills.  Their  height  varies  from  five  to  nine 
thousand  miles — feef^  I  mean  !  I  am  not  a  worker  of  mira- 
cles, and  therefore  I  correct  myself,  and  reduce  the  quan- 
tity. Mount  Washington  is  six  thousand,  three  hundred 
feet  high.  The  highest  point  in  the  Sinaitic  group  is  be- 
tween nine  and  ten  thousand  feet  high.  Besides  being 
rugged,  they  are  gloomy  and  grand.  The  whole  neighbor- 
hood is  impressive.  The  peculiar  character  of  the  air 
about  them  is  such  that  a  person  reading  in  a  low  tone  can 
be  distinctly  heard  at  a  distance  of  sixty  feet.  The  Bedouin 
Arabs  say  they  can  hear  across  the  whole  sea  of  Achbor 
on  the  east.  This  is  probably  an  exaggeration,  but  it  has 
some  foundation  in  fact. 

There  is  sufficient  valley  ground  to  accommodate  the 
number   of  people   that  must   have    encamped    there.     If 


2i8  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

modern  investigation  had  shown  that  there  was  not  room 
enough  for  all  those  people,  it  would  have  gone  very  much 
against  the  narrative  ;  but  there  is  the  ground,  and  there 
is  the  mountain  standing  over  against  it.  These  mountains 
had  been  visited  by  the  Egyptians.  Some  of  their  carving 
on  the  rocks  there  remains  to  this  day. 

The  Israelites,  then,  after  leaving  Rephidim,  came  into 
the  wilderness  of  Sinai,  and  were  brought  into  this  great 
camp-ground,  in  front  of  the  mount,  for  the  purpose  of 
receiving  the  Word  of  God  under  conditions  the  most 
terrible  and  the  most  impressive. 

The  preparation  for  this  deserves  a  moment's  attention. 
There  is  given  in  the  nineteenth  chapter  a  reason  for  it. 

"And  Moses  went  up  unto  God,  and  the  Lord  called  unto  him  out  of  the 
mountain,  saying,  Thus  shalt  thou  say  to  the  house  of  Jacob,  and  tell  the 
children  of  Israel :  Ve  have  seen  what  I  did  unto  the  Egyptians,  and  how 
I  bare  you  on  eagles'  wings,  and  brought  you  unto  myself.  Now,  there- 
fore, if  ye  will  obey  my  voice  indeed,  and  keep  my  covenant,  then  ye  shall 
be  a  peculiar  treasure  unto  me  above  all  people  :  for  all  the  earth  is  mine : 
and  ye  shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests,  and  an  holy  nation.  These 
are  the  words  which  thou  shalt  speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel." 

Here  the  drama  of  emancipation  is  enunciated  as  a  pre- 
lude, and  the  purpose  of  what  is  to  follow,  which  is  a  moral 
one  of  transcendent  importance,  is  made  known.  Moses 
commanded  all  the  people  to  prepare  themselves,  to  wash 
their  clothes,  and  to  practice  abstinence  from  everything 
that  would  give  sensuousness  to  their  life  ;  for  on  the  third 
day  Jehovah  should  be  manifested  to  them  upon  the  mount. 
Bounds  were  set  about  the  sacred  ground,  and  no  man  was 
to  touch  the  mount  on  pain  of  death,  nor  to  approach 
it. 

"And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  third  day  in  the  morning,  that  there  were 
thunders  and  lightnings,  and  a  thick  cloud  upon  the  mount,  and  the  voice 
of  the  trumpet  exceeding  loud  ;  so  that  all  the  people  that  was  in  the  camp 
trembled.  And  Moses  brought  forth  the  people  out  of  the  camp  to  meet 
with  God  ;  and  they  stood  at  the  nether  part  of  the  mount.  And  Mount 
Sinai  was  altogether  on  a  smoke,  because  Jehovah  descended  upon  it  in 
fire :  and  the  smoke  thereof  ascended  as  the  smoke  of  a  furnace,  and  the 
whole  mount  [some  ancient  authorities  make  this  people]  quaked  greatly. 


THE   WILDERNESS  AND  SINAI.  219 

And  when  the  voice  of  the  trumpet  sounded  long,  and  waxed  louder  and 
louder,  Moses  spake,  and  Jehovah  answered  him  by  a  voice." 

Compare  the  majesty  and  magnificence  of  this  with  all 
those  scenes  of  the  appearance  of  the  gods  that  are  men- 
tioned in  the  Greek  and  Egyptian  mythologies,  and  that 
were  conceived  of  by  the  Romans.  It  stands  without  a 
parallel  or  an  approach  in  any  ancient  descriptions  of  the 
appearance  of  God,  and  is  worthy  of  the  glory  that  has 
been  ascribed  to  him. 

"And  the  Lord  came  down  upon  Mount  Sinai,  on  the  top  of  the  mount : 
and  the  Lord  called  Moses  up  to  the  top  of  the  mount ;  and  Moses  went  up. 
And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Go  down,  charge  the  people,  lest  they  break 
through  unto  the  Lord  to  gaze,  and  many  of  them  perish.  And  let  the 
priests  also,  which  come  near  to  the  Lord,  sanctify  themselves,  lest  the  Lord 
break  forth  upon  them.  And  Moses  said  unto  the  Lord,  The  people  can- 
not come  up  to  Mount  Sinai :  for  thou  chargedst  us,  saying.  Set  bounds 
about  the  mount,  and  sanctify  it." 

They  were  to  inspire  the  whole  multitude  with  the  pro- 
foundest  awe  and  reverence,  as  in  the  very  presence  of  their 
God. 

"And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Thou  shalt  come  up,  thou,  and  Aaron 
with  thee :  but  let  not  the  priests  and  people  come  up." 

"And  God  spake  all  these  words,  saying,  I  am  Jehovah  thy  God,  which 
have  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage. 

"  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven  image,  or  any  likeness  of 
anything  that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  that  is  in  the  earth  beneath,  or  that  is 
in  the  water  under  the  earth  :  thou  shalt  not  bow  down  thyself  to  them,  nor 
serve  them  :  for  I  Jehovah  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquity 
of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation  of 
them  that  hate  me ;  and  showing  mercy  unto  thousands  of  them  that  love 
me,  and  keep  my  commandments. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  Jehovah  thy  God  in  vain  ;  for  Jehovah 
will  not  hold  him  guiltless  that  taketh  his  name  in  vain. 

"  Remember  the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy.  Six  days  shalt  thou  labor, 
and  do  all  thy  work  :  but  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  Jehovah  thy 
God  :  in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter,  thy 
manservant,  nor  thy  maidservant,  nor  thy  cattle,  nor  thy  stranger  that  is 
within  thy  gates :  for  in  six  days  Jehovah  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea, 
and  all  that  in  them  is,  and  rested  the  seventh  day :  wherefore  Jehovah 
blessed  the  Sabbath  day,  and  hallowed  it. 

"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother  :  that  thy  days  may  be  long  upon  the 
land  which  Jehovah  thy  God  giveth  thee. 


220  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  kill. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  steal. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbor. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  house,  thou  shalt  not  covet  thy 
neighbor's  wife,  nor  his  manservant,  nor  his  maidservant,  nor  his  ox,  nor 
his  ass,  nor  anything  that  is  thy  neighbor's." 

Moses  abode  in  the  mount,  it  is  said,  for  fort}^  days,  re- 
ceiving from  God  the  whole  form  of  service,  and  the  whole 
so-called  Levitical  economy,  to  which,  to  a  very  large  ex- 
tent, the  remainder  of  this  book  and  the  whole  of  the  book 
of  Leviticus  are  devoted.  While  he  was  in  the  mountain  an 
extraordinary  scene  took  place.  I  shall  return  to  the  Ten 
Commandments  after  I  have  finished  the  story. 

It  seems  that  during  the  long  absence  of  Moses  the  peo- 
ple forgot  their  terror  and  their  trembling,  and,  being 
released  from  the  master-eye  and  the  master-mind,  began 
to  fall  back  into  the  habits  they  had  brought  up  with  them 
from  Egypt.  They  demanded  of  Aaron  that  he  should  make 
them  a  graven  image  of  a  god  such  as  they  had  probably 
worshiped  in  Egypt,  and  he  did  so,  making  a  golden  calf, 
or  bull — the  Egyptian  emblem  of  creative  power — which 
they  worshiped  with  great  turbulence  and  noise. 

"And  Moses  turned,  and  went  down  from  the  mount,  and  the  two  tables 
of  the  testimony  were  in  his  hand :  the  tables  were  written  on  both  their 
sides  ;  on  the  one  side  and  on  the  other  were  they  written.  And  the  tables 
were  the  work  of  God,  and  the  writing  was  the  writing  of  God,  graven 
upon  the  tables.  And  when  Joshua  heard  the  noise  of  the  people  as  they 
shouted,  he  said  unto  Moses,  There  is  a  noise  of  war  in  the  camp.  And  he 
said,  It  is  not  the  voice  of  them  that  shout  for  mastery,  neither  is  it  the 
voice  of  them  that  cry  for  being  overcome  :  but  the  noise  of  them  that  sing 
do  I  hear.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  soon  as  he  came  nigh  unto  the  camp, 
that  he  saw  the  calf,  and  the  dancing  :  and  Moses'  anger  waxed  hot." 

No  wonder  ! 

"And  he  cast  the  tables  out  of  his  hands,  and  brake  them  beneath  the 
mount." 

It  is  not  likely  that  he  meant  to  break  them,  but  they 
broke.  Probably  they  were  slabs  of  granite,  thin  but  heavy  ; 
and  in  the  impetuosity  of  his  nature,  during  an  outburst 
of  that  same  fiery  indignation  which  led  him  to  slay  the 


THE   WILDERNESS  AND  SLYAI.  221 

Egyptian,  under  the  influence  of  his  rash  temper,  largely 
subdued,  like  coals  raked  up,  dangerous,  ready  to  flame 
forth,  he  cast  the  tables  out  of  his  hands,  and  broke  them. 

"And  he  took  the  calf  which  they  had  made,  and  burnt  it  in  the  fire,  and 
ground  it  to  powder,  and  strawed  it  upon  the  water,  and  made  the  children 
of  Israel  drink  of  it.  And  Moses  said  unto  Aaron,  What  did  this  people 
unto  thee,  that  thou  hast  brought  so  great  a  sin  upon  them  ?  And  Aaron 
said.  Let  not  the  anger  of  my  lord  wax  hot :  thou  knowest  the  people,  that 
they  are  set  on  mischief.  For  they  said  unto  me,  Make  us  gods,  which 
shall  go  before  us  :  for  as  for  this  Moses,  the  man  that  brought  us  up  out 
of  the  land  of  Egvpt,  we  wot  not  what  is  become  of  him.  And  I  said  unto 
them,  Whosoever  hath  any  gold,  let  them  break  it  off.  So  they  gave  it  me  : 
then  I  cast  it  into  the  fire,  and  there  came  out  this  calf." 

Fool  !  What  a  coward,  what  a  liar,  what  a  wretch,  shirk- 
ing all  the  blame  from  himself,  and  making  up  this  miser- 
able story  !  If  a  man  will  lie,  he  ought  to  lie  somewhere 
along  the  border  of  the  probable  truth  ! 

Then  followed  a  scene  of  judgment  most  terrible  : — 

"  Moses  stood  in  the  gate  of  the  camp,  and  said,  Who  is  on  the  Lord's 
side  ?  let  him  come  unto  me.  And  all  the  sons  of  Levi  gathered  themselves 
together  unto  him.  And  he  said  unto  them,  Thus  saith  Jehovah,  God  of 
Israel,  Put  every  man  his  sword  by  his  side,  and  go  in  and  out  from  gate  to 
gate  throughout  the  camp,  and  slay  every  man  his  brother,  and  every  man 
his  companion,  and  every  man  his  neighbor.  And  the  children  of  Levi  did 
according  to  the  word  of  Moses  :  and  there  fell  of  the  people  that  day  about 
three  thousand  men." 

It  was  a  time  for  surgery.  This  was  a  condition  of  things 
in  which  the  whole  scene  of  emancipation  was  likely  to 
fall  to  the  ground,  and  the  grand  experiment  of  education 
was  in  danger  of  ignominiously  coming  to  naught  ;  there 
must  be  some  punishment  which  should  strike  the  people 
with  such  terror  and  remorse  as  to  bring  to  an  end  their 
defection.  After  having  been,  by  Almighty  God,  rescued 
from  the  terrible  plagues  of  Egypt  ;  after  having  been,  by 
the  divine  hand,  borne  across  the  sea,  and  through  the  wil- 
derness, as  on  eagles'  wings  ;  after  having  been  again  and 
again  supplied  with  food  and  water;  after  having  been 
brought  through  scenes  of  terror  to  Mount  Sinai,  where 
most  majestic  and  dramatic  eft'ects  were  produced  upon 
^hem— after  all  these  things,  within  the  space  of  forty  days, 


222  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

being  left  without  a  leader,  they  came  down  to  what 
among  more  cultivated  people,  in  later  days,  was  called  the 
worship  of  Venus.  They  were  debauched.  They  were  en- 
gaged in  that  which  was  worse  than  a  drunken  frolic.  They 
were  guilty  of  a  heinous  sin  toward  God.  And  when  Moses 
visited  them  with  such  punishment  as  it  is  recorded  that 
he  did,  it  indicated  a  determination  to  produce  upon  them 
a  wholesome  and  lasting  moral  impression. 

I  come  back,  now,  for  a  moment,  to  a  rendering  of  the 
Decalogue — the  Ten  Words — the  Ten  Commandments. 
These  Commandments  may  be  called  the  constitution  of 
the  Jewish  people.  Though  there  is  chapter  after  chapter 
of  directions  concerning  worship  and  civil  economy, — for 
the  Mosaic  system  included  the  total  knowledge  of  civility, 
— the  Ten  Commandments  were  the  marrow  and  center  of 
that  system  ;  and  they  indicated  that  which  was  peculiar 
to  the  early  period  in  which  they  were  given,  not  by  what 
they  contained,  so  much  as  by  what  they  omitted. 

The  Ten  Commandments  must  underlie  civilization  to 
the  end  of  the  world — for  there  is  in  them  something  more 
fundamental  than  that  which  rests  upon  physical  elements. 
The  union  of  morality  with  spiritual  religion  was  first  made 
known  here.  It  was  here  that  man's  duty  toward  God  was 
first  coupled  with  his  duty  toward  men — for  religion  is  the 
worship  of  God,  and  morality  is  the  discharge  of  our  duties 
toward  our  fellows  ;  and  here,  first,  in  the  history  of  litera- 
ture, we  find  them  joined  together  and  forming  one  system. 
Their  separation  was  the  curse  of  all  the  other  religious 
systems  in  the  world.  All  other  religions  had  in  them 
worship,  but  not  morality  ;  here  we  find  them  united. 

In  the  first  place,  standing  above  every  other  declaration 
is  that  of  the  unity  of  God  ;  and  the  natural  inference  to 
be  drawn  from  it  is  the  denunciation  of  all  forms  of  idola- 
try. The  foremost  conception  was  that  of  establishing  a 
power  in  the  minds  of  the  people  by  unfolding  to  them  the 
nature  of  God,  and  bringing  them  to  believe  that  he  gov- 
erned the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  that  they  were  his 
peculiar  people. 


THE  WILDERNESS  AXD  SIXAI. 


223 


So,  here,  declaration  is  made  of  God  ;  and  it  is  remark- 
able that  at  so  early  a  period  the  monotheistic  idea,  or  the 
idea  of  the  eternal  unity  of  God,  was  developed  in  so  clear 
and  distinct  a  form.  It  was  taught  that  there  was  one 
God,  and  only  one  ;  and  that  has  been  the  salvation  of  re- 
ligion through  the  ages. 

What  is  still  more  striking,  is,  in  the  second  Command- 
ment, that  God  was  to  be  forever  to  them  an  idea — a  crea- 
ture of  the  imagination.  He  was  not  to  be  represented  to 
them  by. any  outline  of  chalk  or  charcoal,  nor  by  any  pic- 
ture or  statue.  He  was  not  to  be  limned  or  carved.  Noth- 
ing in  the  heavens — no  brilliant  star  and  no  radiant  sun — 
was  to  represent  him.  No  phenomenal  representation  was 
to  be  made  of  him.  Nothing  on  the  earth  or  in  the  water 
was  to  portray  him.  No  sensuous  and  physical  thing 
should  delineate  him.  The  Infinite  is  boundless,  and  can- 
not be  described  by  means  of  art  or  any  outward  object. 
In  the  forefront  stands  the  Invisible  and  Indescribable,  so 
vast  that  nothing  in  this  world  can  represent  it.  The  con- 
ception is  a  majestic  one.  And  that  is  the  purport  of  the 
first  two  Commandments  ;  it  will  endure  throughout  the 
ages. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  Jehovah  thy  God  in  vain  ;  for  Jehovah 
will  not  hold  him  guiltless  that  taketh  his  name  in  vain." 

Irreverence  for  sacred  things  ;  playing  the  animal  with 
supreme  things  ;  the  degradation  of  things  higher  than 
ordinary  life,  which  should  lead  men  up  from  the  depths  of 
lower  experience, — that  is  accursed.  To  go  through  a  gal- 
lery of  art,  and  slime  the  noblest  pictures  with  mud,  and 
deface  or  destroy  the  most  magnificent  marbles, — no  man 
would  permit  that.  The  whole  world  would  cry  out 
against  the  desecration  of  beauty  under  such  circumstances. 
Yet  men  think  themselves  justified  in  drawing  down  the 
sanctities  of  heaven, — those  thoughts  and  feelings  which 
have  in  them  inspiration  and  elevation, — and  defiling  tliem, 
or  using  them  for  purposes  of  self-aggrandizement  and  low 
ambition  ;  while  here  stands  this  command,  which  covers 
the  whole  ground  of  vulgarizing  things  that  are  high,  and 


224  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

that  are  necessary  to  lift  men  up  from  low  associations. 
"  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in 
vain  "  does  not  mean  simply  that  men  shall  not  curse,  or 
even  swear  by  that  holy  name  to  falsehood  ;  it  includes  the 
whole  latitude  and  longitude  of  the  realm  of  thought  and 
feeling  in  which  there  is  the  desecration  of  whatever  is 
sacred. 

"  Remember  the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy.  Six  days  shalt  thou 
labor,  and  do  all-  thy  work  :  but  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  Jehovah 
thy  God :  in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor  thy 
daughter,  thy  manservant,  nor  thy  maidservant,  nor  thy  cattle,  nor  thy 
stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates." 

This  commandment  is  an  enunciation  of  the  great  law  of 
humanity.  It  enjoins  rest.  Men  are  called  upon  to  rest 
one  day  out  of  every  seven.  It  is  not  a  proscription  of  en- 
joyment or  of  social  delight.  It  was  not  so  carried  out  in 
the  Jewish  nation  as  to  exclude  these  things  ;  on  the  con- 
trary, it  markedly  included  them.  It  merely  says  ''  Stop," 
to  the  plough.  It  says  to  the  toiling  yoke  and  to  all  tools, 
"Be  still."  It  says  to  labor  of  every  kind,  "Cease."  Its 
object  is  to  give  a  pause  :  for  sanctuary  privileges,  for 
instruction  and  reflection,  for  enjoyment, — in  a  word,  for 
recreation.  It  is  one  of  the  most  blessed  provisions  that 
ever  came  to  the  world.  It  stands,  to-day,  not  on  the 
ground  of  Levitical  observance,  but  on  the  ground  of  uni- 
versal humanity.  The  command  is,  "  Rest,*'  because  the 
laboring  race  need  rest  ;  and  woe  be  to  those  industries 
and  vocations  that  keep  men  toiling  seven  days  every 
week  in  a  ceaseless  round,  and  give  them  no  rest!  Every 
man  has  a  right  to  his  seventh  day  of  rest,  everywhere,  for 
purposes  of  joy,  for  purposes  of  society,  and  for  purposes 
of  moral  culture  ;  and  this  will  stand  to  the  end  of  time. 

Next  to  the  worship  of  God  is  reverence  for  parents  ; 
this  is  the  foundation  of  the  family. 

"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother  :  that  thy  days  may  be  long  upon  the 
land  which  Jehovah  thy  God  giveth  thee." 

There  is  no  people  who  verify  that  more  than  the  Jews. 
They  are  remarkable  for  sweetness  and  beauty  of  domes- 


THE   WILDERNESS  AND  SINAI.  225 

tic  life,  and  for  health  and  length  of  days.  To  this  hour, 
through  all  their  medieval  persecutions,  in  spite  of  all  the 
horrible  cruelty  to  which  they  have  been  subjected,  they 
have  been  marked  as  a  people  of  wonderful  endurance  and 
elasticity.  Their  life  began  in  the  household.  The  com- 
mand, "  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother,"  has  not  been 
so  implicitly  obeyed  in  any  other  nation  as  among  the 
Israelites  ;  and  in  no  other  nation  has  been  so  signally 
realized  the  implied  promise,  "  that  thy  days  may  be  long 
in  the  land."  As  a  nation,  in  spite  of  multiform  adversity 
they  have  had  notable  prosperity,  and  you  may  depend 
upon  it  that  in  a  country  where  the  household  is  pure,  and 
the  father  and  mother  are  reverenced,  there  are  laid  foun- 
dations which  revolution  itself  cannot  destroy,  and  which 
no  outward  adversity  can  overthrow.  The  sanctuary  of 
the  household  is  in  importance  above  every  other  thing. 

Then  comes  the  conflict  in  the  relations  of  men. 

"  Thou  Shalt  not  kill." 

That  is  a  declaration  of  the  sacredness  of  human  life. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery." 

Here  the  purity  of  the  household  is  made  the  subject 
of  a  distinct  command. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  steal." 

The  sanctity  of  property  is  thus  enunciated.  The 
heathen  doubtless  in  all  ages  have  needed  this  injunction  ; 
and  it  is  an  injunction  aimed  at  a  socialistic  abomination 
which  prevails  to-day.  The  results  of  a  man's  productive 
power  are  not  to  be  taken  from  him  without  a  suitable 
equivalent.  Thou  shalt  not  unjustly  take  from  another 
that  which  he  earns.  The  sacredness  of  property  is  the 
very  foundation  of  civil  society. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbor  " — 

unless  he  is  a  politician,  or  a  governor,  or  a  candidate,  or  a 
president  !  But  here  it  is  put  without  exception.  Thou 
shalt  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbor;  and  you  are 
not  excused  from  obeying  this  command  even  if  you  are 
the  editor  of  a  religious  paper.  Nor  are  you  excused  from 
IS 


226  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

it  because  a  man  belongs  to  a  different  sect  from  that  to 
which  you  belong,  or  because  he  is  in  a  rival  business,  or 
because  he  stands  over  against  you  in  the  conflicts  of  life. 
You  shall  not  bear  false  witness  against  your  neighbor 
either  by  your  tongue  or  by  your  ear.  It  is  as  bad  for  a 
man  to  quietly  hear  another  man  slandered  as  to  slander 
him. 

And,  brethren,  it.  is  not  enough  for  you  to  maintain  in 
your  speech  and  in  your  whole  conduct  the  sanctity  of  the 
reputation  of  those  around  about  you.  There  is  a  phase 
of  honor  far  more  sacred  than  that.  There  is  in  every  man 
a  silent  judgment-seat,  a  chamber  in  his  own  thoughts, 
where  he  thinks  evil  or  thinks  well  of  his  neighbors  ;  where 
he  looks  upon  them  charitably  or  uncharitably  ;  and  you 
are  violating  one  of  the  sanctities  of  God's  Law  when  you 
dare  to  think  unjustly  of  your  fellow  men.  They  are  not 
present  to  hear  your  charge  or  to  defend  themselves  against 
it  ;  and  if  you  condemn  them,  you  condemn  them  unseen 
and  unheard.  In  the  silence  of  your  thoughts  you  inflict 
the  grossest  injustice  upon  them.  Every  man  who  has  the 
spirit  of  Christ,  and  professes  to  exemplify  that  spirit,  is 
bound  not  only  to  abstain  from  outward  misrepresentation 
and  adverse  criticism  of  men,  as  commanded  by  Moses,  but 
to  see  to  it  that  in  his  own  thoughts  men  have  justice  done 
them. 

"Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  house,  thou  shalt  not  covet  thy 
neighbor's  wife,  nor  his  manservant,  nor  his  maidservant,  nor  his  ox,  nor 
his  ass,  nor  anything  that  is  thy  neighbor's." 

Envy,  jealousy,  and  hunger  for  another's  prosperity — 
these  are  a  violation  of  the  central  canon  of  benevolence, 
and  are  forbidden. 

Here,  then,  are  the  foundations  of  religion  :  in  reverence 
toward  God,  in  the  sanctity  of  the  household,  in  the  sacred- 
ness  of  property,  in  a  just  conduct  of  mutual  relations  and 
intercourse  of  one  with  another.  They  are  the  foundation 
of  worship  within  the  bounds  of  civil  society.  What  was 
lacking  in  these  declarations  of  the  early  period  were  the 
elements  of  meekness,  of  self-denial,  of  love,  and  of  self- 


THE   WILDERXESS  AXD  SINAI.  227 

sacrifice.  These  had  not  then  been  developed.  They  are 
fruits  of  the  later  economy  set  forth  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.  In  the  Ten  Commandments  we  have  the  founda- 
tion, and  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  we  have  the  super- 
structure. The  Ten  Commandments  will  always  be  needed 
because  there  will  always  be  men  in  the  wilderness  ;  there 
will  always  be  a  detritus  ;  there  will  always  be  a  vast 
amount  of  barbarism  and  heathenism.  In  every  genera- 
tion the  Ten  Commandments  will  be  as  much  wanted  as 
ever  they  were.  But  they  are  not  enough.  They  stand  as 
the  Law  in  respect  to  the  lower  forms  of  life.  The  higher 
forms — the  graces,  the  effluences,  the  blossom,  the  fruit,  the 
beauty  of  transcendent  spirituality — these  Christ  came  to 
develop,  and  they  must  be  superadded  to  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments in  order  to  make  a  complete  whole,  and  thus 
will  the  Law  be  "fulfilled." 

I  shall  close  with  only  one  reading,  and  that  from  the 
Twelfth  Chapter  of  Hebrews,  that  I  may  put  it  in  apposi- 
tion and  opposition  to  the  scenes  to  which  I  have  already 
called  your  attention.  In  speaking  of  the  coming  of  men 
into  the  Christian  disposition,  the  writer  says  : — 

"  Ye  are  not  come  unto  the  mount  that  might  be  touched,  and  that  burned 
with  fire,  nor  unto  blackness,  and  darkness,  and  tempest,  and  the  sound  of 
a  trumpet,  and  the  voice  of  words  ;  which  voice  they  that  heard  intreated 
that  the  word  should  not  be  spoken  to  them  any  more  :  (For  they  could 
not  endure  that  which  was  commanded,  and  if  so  much  as  a  beast  touch  the 
mountain,  it  shall  be  stoned,  or  thrust  through  with  a  dart :  and  so  terrible 
was  the  sight,  that  Moses  said,  I  exceedingly  fear  and  quake :)  but  ye  are 
come  unto  Mount  Sion,  and  unto  the  city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem,  and  to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  to  the  general  assem- 
bly and  church  of  the  firstborn,  which  are  written  in  heaven,  and  to  God  the 
judge  of  all,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and  to  Jesus  the 
mediator  of  the  new  covenant,  and  to  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  that  speaketh 
better  things  than  that  of  Abel." 

The  world  has  had  a  long  and  weary  march  from  Mount 
Sinai  to  Mount  Zion.  Woe  be  to  him  that  insists  upon 
making  that  march  over  again  !  For  us.  Mount  Sinai 
stands  afar  off.  We  hear  the  thunder  still,  but  we  have 
learned  in  a  better  school.  Inheriting  the  knowledge  of 
ages,  we  have  risen  to  a  sublimer  conception  of  God  than 


228  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

any  that  can  be  made  by  quaking,  by  the  voice  of  the  trum- 
pet or  the  sound  of  thunder.  We  have  beheld  Love  insti- 
tuted as  the  supreme  and  central  power  in  this  world.  Not 
yet  fixed,  for  the  w^orld  and  the  church  still  vibrate,  with 
incessant  pendulum,  between  Sinai  and  Zion,  between  force 
and  persuasion,  between  fear  and  affection,  between  the  Law 
and  the  Gospel,  between  all  that  is  severe  and  terrible  and 
all  that  is  lenient,  and  comforting.  But  methinks  that, 
more  and  more  as  the  ages  go  on,  men  are  brought  into 
the  spirit  of  the  New  Dispensation  ;  more  and  more  the 
thunder  ceases  to  be  heard  by  mankind  ;  more  and  more 
we  are  lifted  above  its  noise.  To  him  who  knows  no  love 
there  must  be  fear  ;  but  perfect  love  casts  out  fear  :  and 
he  who  stands  in  the  sphere  of  hope  and  expectation  is 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  thunder  and  its  quaking,  and  is 
not  far  from  Mount  Zion. 

May  God  give  to  us  all  the  spirit  of  the  New  Dispensa- 
tion. While  we  are  gratefully  looking  back  to  see  the 
steps  that  have  been  taken  to  bring  the  human  family  up 
from  their  low  estate  at  large,  we  may  rejoice  that  along 
the  slopes'  of  Mount  Sinai  the  human  race  is  gradually 
advancing  and  rising  toward  Mount  Zion  that  is  above. 


XII. 
THE  SABBATH. 


"And  he  said  unto  them,  the  Sabbath  v/as  made  for  man,  and  not  man 
for  the  Sabbath."— Mark  ii.  27. 


This  is  an  additional  clause  to  the  passage  which  I  read 
in  the  opening  service,  more  fully  recorded  in  Mark. 
"Therefore  the  son  of  man  is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath  " 
occurs  in  both  passages.  I  shall  return,  in  due  time,  to  the 
thought  that  is  contained  in  this  passage.  In  the  dis- 
courses on  the  preceding  Sunday  nights  I  have  taken  a 
very  general  survey  of  the  structure  and  contents  of  the 
book  of  Genesis  and  the  book  of  Exodus.  It  has  not  been 
possible  to  expound  all  the  points  of  interest.  There  are 
so  many,  in  the  light  of  modern  experience  and  scholar- 
ship, that  I  should  make  but  very  slow  progress  if  I  at- 
tempted to  unveil  all  of  them.  But  if  the  external  history 
of  any  people  is  more  romantic  and  more  acceptable,  the 
institutions  and  interior  economy  of  no  other  people  is 
more  important. 

We  have  now  come  to  that  point  in  the  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  where  the  Mosaic  economy,  as  it  has  been 
called,  is  opened  up.  I  confess  that  when  I  read  of  it  in 
Exodus,  in  Leviticus,  and  in  Deuteronomy,  it  seems  to  me 
as  though  it  must  strike  an  ordinary  reader  as  a  very 
strange  jumble  ;  because,  as  compared  with  our  systems  of 
law,  which  throughout  the  ages  have  been  developed  into 
logical  sequences,  and  in  which  all  the  great  interests  of 
society  are  separated  and  treated  one  by  one  with  minute 


Sunday  evening,  January  12,  1879.     Lesson  :  Luke  vi.  1-12. 


230 


BIBLE  STUDIES. 


order  and  procedure,  the  Mosaic  system  is  a  jumble.  The 
most  contrary  things  lie  together  in  the  same  bed.  If  in 
one  verse  it  speaks  of  land,  in  the  next  verse  it  speaks  of 
the  household,  and  in  the  next  it  speaks  of  the  relations  of 
personal  property.  One  thing  treads  upon  another* with- 
out any  logical  method.  So  it  comes  to  pass  that  this  econ- 
omy would  seem  to  be  a  collection  of  proverbs.  They  lie 
in  juxtaposition,  they  touch,  but  they  do  not  cohere.  And 
it  is  my  purpose,  so  faras.it  can  be  done  without  wearying 
you,  to  portray  some  of  the  great  Mosaic  institutions  that 
have  never  been  more  profoundly  or  wisely  or  beneficially 
treated  than  they  were  in  the  economy  of  the  wilderness. 
If  you  sympathize  with  me,  you  will  be  both  grateful  and 
surprised  to  see  at  how  early  a  time  some  of  the  most  use- 
ful elements  of  modern  society  had  their  origin,  their  devel- 
opment, and  their  establishment. 

We  are  to  bear  in  mind,  then,  in  entering  upon  this  gen- 
eral view,  what  was  before  the  mind  of  this  great  lawgiver 
and  leader  —  this  man  of  antiquity  who  stands  before 
the  past  as  the  vast  statues  of  Egypt  stood  before  their 
temples,  so  huge  as  to  hide  the  very  temples  themselves. 
There  never  has  been  a  name  on  earth  of  one  who,  in  antiq- 
uity or  in  modern  times,  being  a  purely  secular  man,  ex- 
celled him.  We  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  his  was  the  first 
attempt  of  any  considerable  importance  to  organize  human 
society  around  about  an  ideal,  invisible  God.  It  has  been 
called  "a  theocracy  ";  and  by  that  was  meant,  it  has  been 
more  generally  supposed,  merely  the  rule  of  a  priesthood. 
But  it  was  a  bo7ia  fide  attempt  on  the  part  of  Moses  to  or- 
ganize a  commonwealth  that  should  have  no  visible  head  ; 
that  should  be  apparent  to  man  only  through  the  element 
of  faith — the  imagination  sanctified  to  sacred  uses.  'The 
source  of  all  authority,  the  origin  of  all  law,  the  process  of 
all  providence,  was,  in  the  mind  of  every  one  of  the  citi- 
zens, to  be  in  the  great'  commonwealth  above.  So  that,  . 
while  nature  and  primitive  organization  would  be  drawing 
men  to  the  earth,  because  they  were  of  the  earth,  there 
would    be  in    the  whole    framework  of  their  government 


THE  SABBATH.  231 

elements  that  should  draw  them  toward  the  invisible  and 
superior. 

It  was  designed  to  produce,  by  such  a  process  as  this,  a 
people  that  should  be,  without  exception,  in  the  field,  in 
the  city,  and  in  the  way,  filled  with  overflowing  happiness. 
Happiness  was  the  end  that  was  being  sought— happiness 
through  righteousness,  which  everywhere  is  declared  to 
bring  forth  peace  and  prosperity.  Nor  can  I  conceive  of  a 
more  sublime  motto  than  that  which  is  given  in  the  seventh 
of  Deuteronomy,  and  the  sixth  verse.  This  is  the  last  letter 
of  Moses  in  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy.  He  said,  in  his 
dying  testimony  : — 

"  Thou  art  an  holy  people  unto  Jehovah  thy  God  :  Jehovah  thy  God  hath 
chosen  thee  to  be  a  special  people  unto  himself,  above  all  people  that 
are  upon  the  face  of  the  earth." 

Here  was  the  national  motto  :  no  lion  emblazoned  on  a 
blood-red  shield  ;  no  ravenous  eagle  ;  but.  Thou  art  a  pecul- 
iar people  whom  God  hath  set  apart  for  himself  to  make  them  a 
happy  people.  Such  was  the  legend  that  INIoses  gave  in  the 
furtherance  of  the  great  end  of  his  life  and  mission. 

Through  their  immediate  and  personal  adhesion  to  God, 
then,  he  instituted  various  economies.  The  first  one  which 
we  enter  upon  in  the  order  of  time  is  the  Sabbath— the 
setting  apart  and  consecration  for  rest  of  a  seventh  portion 
of  every  man's  time.  It  is  to  this  matter,  whose  importance 
far  transcends  our  ordinary  apprehension  of  it,  that  I  wish 
to  call  your  attention  to-night. 

There  is  mention  of  the, observance  of  the  seventh  day 
—and  it  is  the  first  mention  of  it—after  the  escape  of  the 
Israelites  from  Egypt,  and  while  they  were  wandering  in 
the  desert,  before  they  came  to  Mount  Sinai,  and  when  the 
manna  fell  from  heaven.  You  will  recollect  that  the  com- 
mand was  to  gather  on  the  sixth  day  for  both  the  sixtli 
and  the  seventh  ;  for,  said  Moses,  To-morrow  is  a  solemn 
rest,  a  holy  Sabbath  unto  the  Lord.  And  there  was  the 
correspondence  of  the  miracle  that  if  manna  was  gathered 
on  any  day  except  the  sixth,  and  kept  more  than  one  day, 
it  was  corrupted,  but  that  if  gathered  on  the  sixth  day  it 


232  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

was  not  corrupted  when  it  was  kept  over  a  day.  This 
marks  the  fact  that  before  they  received  the  law  at  Mount 
Sinai  there  had  been  introduced  a  recognition  and  an 
observance  of  the  seventh  day  as  Sabbath — rest-day — in 
the  camp. 

How  far  back  this  went  no  one  can  tell.  All  efforts  to 
show  that  the  Sabbath  day  was  observed  from  the  begin- 
ning have  been,  it  seems  to  me,  worse  than  failures.  They 
have  involved  such  a  use  of  Scripture  as  would  justify  any 
amount  of  wrenching,  special  pleading,  and  perversion. 
There  is  no  evidence  in  the  whole  history  of  the  patriarchs 
that  they  ever  observed  that  day.  There  is  nothing  to 
show  that  the  seventh  day,  or  any  part  of  the  time,  was 
observed  in  Egypt.  It  may  have  been,  but  there  is  no 
evidence  of  it.  They  may,  in  those  early  times,  have  worn 
scarlet  hoods,  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  it.  They  may 
have  had  shoe-buckles,  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  that. 
And  there  is  no  evidence  that  in  any  nation  then,  or  at  any 
anterior  period  in  the  Israelitish  nation,  the  seventh  day 
was  observed.  However  that  may  be,  it  comes  to  our 
notice  as  being  authoritatively  established  for  regular 
observance  only  when  the  camp  sat  down  before  Mount 
Sinai,  and  it  was  commanded  in  the  Decalogue. 

Why  the  seventh  day  should  have  been  chosen  has  been 
a  matter  of  a  good  deal  of  debate.  All  nations  have  not 
accepted  this.  Some  peoples  have  counted  their  week  as 
five  days,  some  as  six  days,  and  some. as  ten  days,  and 
though  the  greatest  number  of  nations  have  had  a  week 
composed  of  seven  days,  and  the  inquiry  is  a  natural  one, 
How  should  they  have  fallen  upon  this  seven-day  week  ? 
the  reason  given  is  that  in  six  days  the  Lord  created  the 
heaven  and  the  earth,  and  rested  on  the  seventh  day. 
That  may  be  a  reason  in  regard  to  God,  but  it  is  not  a  rea- 
son in  regard  to  nations.  The  presumption  is  that  it  is  a 
legend  transmuted  into  an  allegation. 

The  more  probable  reason  is  this  :  In  the  early  day  the 
shepherd  life  predominated.  You  have  never  had  any  ex- 
perience of  such  a  life.     We  know  verv  well  that  when  men 


THE  SABBA  TH.  233 

follow  the  sea  they  become  observant  of  clouds,  of  wind,  of 
phenomena  that  are  strange  to  us.  We  know  that  Indians 
living  in  the  woods  sharply  see  in  nature  and  cunningly 
use  many  things  that  are  blind  to  us.  We  could  not  fol- 
low trails.  We  could  not  even  find  our  way  by  means  of 
the  blazes  of  the  frontiersmen  of  the  forest.  We,  dwelling 
in  cities  and  old  communities,  never  had  practice  of  this 
sort. 

Now,  people  living  on  the  plains,  watching  their  flocks 
day  and  night,  become  companionable  with  the  stars  ;  they 
learn  to  observe  the  heavens  familiarly  ;  and  there  are 
influences — I  do  not  mean  magical  or  mystic  influences, 
but  a  kind  of  education — derived  from  a  contemplation  of 
the  stellar  universe,  by  pastoral  people,  of  which  we  know 
very  little.  The  changing  moon,  whose  changes  average 
completion  once  in  about  twenty-eight  days,  being  the 
nearest  of  the  observed  heavenh^  bodies,  naturally  attracted 
the  attention  of  a  pastoral  people,  and  took  priority  in 
their  mind  ;  and  by  dividing  that  period  into  quarters, 
roughly  corresponding  to  the  moon's  changes,  they  got 
seven  days.  If  this  lunar  theory  is  not  correct,  at  any  rate 
it  is  ingenious  ;  and  it  is  supposed  by  many  to  have  been 
the  origin  of  the  division  of  time  into  periods  of  seven 
days. 

Around  this  reason  was  afterwards  developed,  I  suppose, 
other  reasons,  of  which  I  shall  speak  in  a  moment ;  and 
among  them  was  the  legend  or  transmitted  tradition  of 
the  days  of  the  creation. 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  position  which  the  Sabbath  takes 
in  the  Law,  as  it  was  given  by  Moses,  or  through  Moses, 
to  the  people.  There  is  a  marked  difference  between  the 
statement  of  Moses  in  Deuteronomy  and  that  made  by  him 
in  Exodus.     I  shall  read  both  of  them. 

"Remember  the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy  [that  is,  separate  and 
apart  from  all  others].  Six  days  shalt  thou  labor,  and  do  all  thy  work  : 
but  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  Jehovah  thy  God  [Jehovah's  rest] : 
in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter,  thy 
manservant,  nor  thy  maidservant,  nor  thy  cattle,  nor  thy  stranger  that  is 
within  thy  gates  :  for  in  six  days  Jehovah  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea, 


234  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

and  all   that  in  them   is,  and  rested  the  seventh  day:  wherefore  Jehovah 
blessed  the  Sabbath  day,  and  hallowed  it." 

So  it  stands  in  Exodus.     In  Deuteronomy  it  reads  : — 

'•Keep  the  Sabbath  day  to  sanctify  it,  as  Jehovah  thy  God  hath  com- 
manded thee.  Six  days  shalt  thou  labor,  and  do  all  thy  work  :  but  the 
seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  Jehovah  thy  God  :  in  it  thou  shalt  not  do 
any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter,  nor  thy  manservant,  nor  thy 
maidservant,  nor  ihine  ox,  nor  thine  ass,  nor  any  of  thy  cattle,  nor  thy 
stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates  ;  that  thy  manservant  and  thy  maidservant 
may  rest  as  well  as  thou." 

These  last  words  are  not  contained  in  Exodus  ;  nor  do 
they  express  the  reason  given  in  Exodus  for  keeping  that 
day,  that  it  was  a  celebration  of  creative  rest.  The  added 
reason  is  stated  as  follows  :  — 

"  Remember  that  thou  wast  a  servant  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  that  Je- 
hovah thy  God  brought  thee  out  thence  through  a  mighty  hand  and  by  a 
stretched  out  arm  :  therefore  Jehovah  thy  God  commanded  thee  to  keep 
the  Sabbath  day." 

It  was  a  day  set  forth  in  Deuteronomy  to  commemorate 
emancipation  from  Egyptian  toil  and  bondage.  It  has  a 
counterpart  in  the  fact  that  the  Israelites  were  emancipated 
from  toil  and  bondage  in  Egypt  when  God  brought  them 
out  from  that  land,  and  that  the  Sabbath  day,  among  other 
things,  was  to  celebrate  this  event.  When  you  take  both 
passages,  and  see  that  Moses  left  out  the  creative  reason, 
and  introduced  another,  it  leads  us  to  lend  a  more  ready 
ear  to  the  statement  of  those  who  say  that,  time  after  time, 
in  the  early  periods,  books  were  amended,  not  by  making 
new  books,  but  by  taking  an  old  one  and  adding  to  it. 
This  was  not  unbefitting  the  simplicity  of  infantile  author- 
ship. Sometimes  one  reason  was  given  and  sometimes  the 
other. 

But  the  fundamental  reason  does  not  lie  in  these  histor- 
ical associations,  however  well  adapted  to  catch  and  hold 
the  attention  of  the  Hebrews  ;  it  lies  in  the  nature  of  the 
thing  itself — what  it  is,  why  it  is,  and  what  the  effect  of  it 
is,  in  the  nature  of  things. 

You  will  observe,  in  the  first  place,  that  in  both  accounts 
there   is  this  one   central  idea,  that  one-seventh  part  of  a 


THE  SABBATH.  235 

man's  time  is  redeemed  from  toil.  Rest,  rest^  is  the  pri- 
mary idea  ;  and  that  falls  in  entirely  with  the  whole  con- 
stitution of  man  in  every  age  and  nation.  We  know  very 
well  that  continuity  within  certain  limited  bounds  is  on 
the  way  to  success,  and  we  know  that  beyond  those 
bounds  it  is  on  the  way  to  disaster.  We  know  that  one 
single  article  of  food,  being  continued  for  a  long  time,  at 
last  nauseates  and  disgusts.  We  know  that  things  iterated, 
iterated,  and  iterated,  often  become  hateful  and  injurious. 
One  cannot  be  a  wheel  in  a  machine  and  revolve  with 
perpetual  revolution,  and  be  a  man.  Variety,  change,  is 
indispensable  to  manhood.  So  there  is  appointed  a  great 
intermission  during  every  single  twenty-four  hours.  One- 
third  of  every  man's  life  is  a  sabbath.  In  every  day  eight 
hours  are  a  sabbath — a  rest — unto  man,  unto  nature,  and, 
since  God  has  arranged  it,  unto  God.  On  this  principle 
civilization  develops  more,  apparently,  than  on  any  other  ; 
and  it  is  on  this  principle  that  the  commandment  of  the 
observance  of  one  day  in  seven  is  founded.  Whether  or 
not  one  day  in  eight,  one  day  in  nine,  or  one  day  in  ten 
would  have  done  about  as  well  as  one  day  in  seven,  I 
do  not  know  ;  but  I  think  experience  has  shown  to  the  satis- 
faction of  man  that  one  day  in  seven  practically  meets  the 
exigencies  of  human  life.  It  does  not  embarrass  indus- 
try. About  as  often  as  that  the  human  system  needs  a 
change — a  change  which  comes  from  throwing  off  the 
habits  of  routine  everyday  industries,  and  giving  the  man 
head-room,  breath-room,  heart-room,  and  hand-room. 

But  then,  take  notice  that  while  we  have  one  day 
appointed  for  rest,  there  is  not,  so  far  as  the  Ten  Command- 
ments are  concerned,  a  single  word  said  about  worship  on 
that  day.  As  we  have  been  brought  up,  what  we  think,  of 
the  Sabbath  or  Rest-day,  is,  that  we  must  not  talk  loud  ; 
that  we  must  not  run  about  the  house  and  make  a  noise  ; 
that  we  must  be  combed  and  dressed  ;  that  we  must  go  to 
church  ;  that  we  must  unite  in  the  religious  services, 
whether  they  are  light  or  heavy  ;  that  we  must  not,  going 
back  home,  feel  free  to  enjoy  ourselves  according  to  our 


236  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

nature  ;  that  we  must  walk  with  propriet}'  ;  that  we  must 
be  quiet  ;  that  we  must  not  go  visiting  or  riding  ;  that  we 
must  not  discharge  ordinary  duties  ;  that  we  must  keep 
the  day  as  straight  and  as  perpendicular  as  possible. 

That  idea  of  the  Sabbath  day  remains  w^ithout  much 
decoration,  without  any  considerable  amount  of  relief, 
without  a  great  deal  of  comfort,  overruling  instincts  of  a 
very  wholesome  nature.  Such  is  about  the  notion  derived 
from  Puritan  practice,  strained  through  New  England. 
Well,  that  was  not  the  Sabbath  day  of  Mount  Sinai.  Such 
a  Sabbath  was  not  known  to  the  Jews.  It  is  a  modern 
invention.     It  is  a  perfect  transformation. 

"  In  it  [the  Sabbath  day]  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work." 

There  is  a  command  to  rest,  but  there  is  no  command  to 
worship.     Such  was  not  the  primitive  injunction. 

And  yet,  while  this  rest  from  work,  as  distinguished 
from  the  modern  methods  of  Sunday  keeping,  was  made 
prominent,  it  carried  with  it  a  great  deal  more  than  the 
mere  idea  of  cessation  from  toil  :  it  insisted  on  cessation 
from  toil  on  the  part  of  the  poor  and  needy.  It  was  the 
foundation  on  which  was  to  be  built  protection  of  the 
rights  sacred  to  individuality.  The  individual  might  read 
for  himself. 

"  The  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  Jehovah  thy  God  :  in  it  thou  shalt 
not  do  any  work  [Look  at  the  particularity  of  it],  thou  [head  of  the  fam- 
ily], nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter  [and  as  these  might  be  exempt  by  favor, 
and  the  work  might  be  shoved  over  to  others],  nor  thy  manservant,  nor 
thy  maidservant." 

Then,, as  if  that  did  not  include  enough,  it  goes  on  to 
secure  humanity  for  the  inferior  creation  : — 

"  Nor  thy  cattle." 

And  after  emancipation,  during  one-seventh  part  of  the 
time,  had  been  provided  for  the  man,  and  his  whole 
household,  including  the  servants,  and  his  possessions, — 
the  horse,  the  dog,  the  ox,  the  ass,  everything  that  was  his, 
— next  came  the  Chinaman,  I  was  going  to  say  ;  but  "  thy 
stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates  "  are  the  words  in  the 
Scripture  record.     All  nations  in  antiquity  were  taught  to 


THE  SABBATH.  237 

hate  strangers,  who  were  often  put  to  the  sword  in  former 
days  ;  but  here  comes  this  humane  injunction  :  You  shall 
treat  the  stranger  as  you  treat  your  own  self,  your  house- 
hold, and  your  property.  That  made  it  more  emphatic  ; 
and  the  reason  given  is,  that  thy  77ianservant  and  thy  maid- 
serra/it  may  rest  as  well  as  thou.  No  aristocracy  here  !  No 
privileged  class  !  The  kitchen  and  the  parlor  stand  on  the 
same  rights.  The  man  that  goes  afoot  and  the  man  that 
rides  in  his  carriage  stand  before  God  with  no  distinction 
in  this  respect.  If  the  democracy  of  Mount  Sinai  should 
sweep  through  life,  wdiat  confusions  and  overturnings  it 
would  produce  ! 

'^  The  Lord  loveth  the  stranger,  in  giving  him  food  and 
raiment."  Then  this  pathetic  appeal  is  added  :  "  Love  j^ 
therefore  the  stranger  ;  for  ye  were  strangers  i7i  the  land  of 
Egypt:' 

Then  there  is  the  injunction  to  remember  those  in  bondage 
— to  have  compassion  on  those  in  bonds. 

So  that,  aside  from  the  idea  of  the  sanctity  and  antiquity 
of  this  portion  of  time — one  day  of  rest  in  seven  derived 
from  the  creative  act — there  came  to  them  this  national 
and  patriotic  reason  :  You  shall  give  a  day  of  absolute  rest  to 
everything  that  lives  and  breathes  within  your  land.  There  was 
the  Mosaic  humanity. 

Such  was  the  spirit,  not  only  of  Moses,  but  of  the  Israel- 
itish  people — that  is,  those  who  represented  the  best  estate 
of  Hebrew  thought  and  feeling.  For,  in  all  the  backslid- 
ings  and  delinquencies  of  these  people  there  were  rising 
up  priests  and  prophets  and  reformers  who  undertook  to 
bring  them  back  to  obedience  to  their  national  laws  ;  and 
you  will  find  that  in  all  the  condemnations  uttered  by 
the  prophets,  greater  or  minor,  it  is  the  manhood  on  which 
their  minds  rest.  Turn,  for  instance,  to  Amos,  one  of  the 
minor  prophets,  the  eighth  chapter  and  the  fourth  verse, 
and  read  : — 

"  Hear  this,  O  ye  that  swallow  up  the  needy,  even  to  make  the  poor  of 
the  land  to  fail,  Saying,  When  will  the  new  moon  be  gone,  that  we  may  sell 
corn  .-*  and  the  Sabbath,  that  we  may  set  forth  wheat,  making  the  ephah 


238  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

small,  and  the  shekel  great  [that  is,  making  the  measure  small  and  the  price 
large.  You  see  the  spirit  of  commerce  was  very  ancient],  and  falsifying  the 
balances  by  deceit?  That  we  may  buy  the  poor  for  silver,  and  the  needy 
for  a  pair  of  shoes;  yea,  and  sell  the  refuse  of  the  wheat?  Jehovah  hath 
sworn  by  the  excellency  of  Jacob,  Surely  I  will  never  forget  any  of  their 
works.     Shall  not  the  land  tremble  for  this  ?  " 

Tremble  for  what  ?  A  technical  violation  of  the  Sabbath  ? 
No  :  for  a  violation  of  the  Sabbath  so  as  to  oppress  the 
poor  and  needy. 

If  you  turn  to  the  denunciations  in  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah, 
the  marrow  of  them  is  this  :  not  that  men  have  gone  aside 
from  the  observation  of  the  Sabbath,  but  that  they  have 
gone  aside  from  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  overwhelm  the  poor 
and  the  needy.  There  never  was  a  book  in  this  world  so 
anti-monarchical  as  the  Old  Testament  ;  and  there  never 
was  a  book  in  which  natural  religion  and  natural  humanity 
ran  so  deep  and  were  so  universal  as  in  this  same  Old  Tes- 
tament, which  is  so  despised,  and  w^hich  men  say  we  have 
so  outgrown  that  Ave  do  not  need  it  any  longer.  It  is  true 
that  the  Old  Testament  is  like  an  old  pasture-field,  and 
needs  to  be  plowed — not,  however,  for  the  sake  of  throw- 
ing it  away,  but  that  we  may  use  it  more  to  our  advantage, 
and  make  more  out  of  it  than  is  being  made  by  neglect,  by 
misrepresentation,  or  by  Pharisaical  stringency  on  minor 
matters. 

It  is,  then,  all  the  way  down  through  the  Old  Testament, 
a  plea  for  the  Sabbath  on  account  of  the  poor  and  needy. 
And  when  we  come  to  the  New  Testament  what  do  we 
find  ?  We  find  Christ  rising  in  the  same  spirit,  and  facing 
the  per\'ersions  that  had  knitted  up  the  Sabbath,  and 
made  it,  as  it  were,  a  net,  holding  people  in  bondage  and 
restriction,  giving  liberty  only  to  those  who  w'ere  not 
poor  and  necessitous.  He  struck  through  this  bondage 
and  this  restriction,  and  declared  that  the  poor  and  needy 
were  to  be  released.  He  said  they  were  not  made  for  the 
Sabbath,  as  if  to  keep  that  day  were  more  important  than 
to  take  care  of  the  people. 

Out  upon  your  nefarious  pretensions  !  he  indignantly 
declared.     Is    not    a    man    more  valuable    than    a   sheep  ? 


THE  SAB  DA  TH. 


239 


There  is  no  one  of  you  that  would  not  pull  a  sheep  out  of 
a  ditch  on  the  Sabbath  ;  and  yet  you  would  prevent  my 
healing  a  man  tliat  is  blind,  or  that  has  a  withered  hand, 
on  that  holy  day  !  My  Father  worketh  hitherto  on  the 
Sabbath.  Doth  the  sun  stand  still  on  the  Sabbath  ;  doth 
not  the  grass  grow  ;  doth  not  the  genial  spring  bring 
forth  the  blade  on  the  Sabbath  day  ?  My  Father  thinks, 
and  wills,  and  plans,  and  blazes  forth  forever  more,  on  Sab- 
baths and  on  week  days.  "  My  Father  worketh  hitherto, 
and  I  work  ;"  but  it  is  a  work  of  humanity.  It  is  a  work 
that  gives  rest,  recuperation,  more  life,  more  power  :  not 
a  work  of  exhaustive  care.  It  is  not  an  everlasting  grind 
at  distasteful  industry.  It  is  a  regeneration  of  man.  It  is 
a  lifting  up  of  new  life  in  a  man,  and  giving  him  opportu- 
nity to  use  that  life  rationally. 

It  was  for  such  a  Sabbath  as  this  that  Christ  pleaded, 
and  against  the  absurd  and  puerile  restrictions  of  the  nar- 
row constructionists  of  the  old  Pharisaic  period. 

I  shall  not  stop  to  amuse  you  with  an  account,  at  the 
present  time  (it  may  be  in  order  to  do  it  by  and  by),  of 
what  curious  provisions  were  made  for  keeping  the  Sab- 
bath day,  as  to  when  it  came  in  and  when  it  went  oiit  ;  as 
to  what  was  work  and  what  was  not  work  ;  as  to  whether 
or  not  a  man  might  have  Gentile  servants  that  were  not 
forbidden  to  light  fires  and  cook  food.  According  to  the 
Hebrew  economy  all  work  must  end  on  the  day  before  the 
Sabbath,  and  no  excuse  whatever  was  valid  for  putting 
even  domestic  labor  upon  the  servants.  This  was  carried 
to  such  an  extent  that  we  can  scarcely  read  about  it  with- 
out a  smile. 

This  division  of  time,  then,  though  known  to  other  nations, 
and  possibly  to  the  Patriarchs,  was  enforced  and  made  into 
a.  positive  institution  only  under  the  Hebrew  Common- 
wealth. One-seventh  part  of  the  time  was  defended  against 
avarice,  against  involuntary  toil,  against  the  mastery  of 
man  over  man.  When  the  seventh  day  came,  the  father  and 
the  son  were  both  alike  to  God.  The  father  could  not  say 
to  the  son,  "Go,"  or  "  Do."     The  son  was  released,  and  the 


240  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

father  and  the  son  stood  equal.  On  that  Sabbath  day  a  man 
could  not  be  driven  afield,  or  starved  if  he  did  not  do  a 
given  amount  of  labor.  The  poorest  man  was  even  with 
the  richest.  There  was  no  man  that  could  force  his  fellow 
man  to  go  forth  and  labor  on  that  day.  Every  man  stood 
in  his  full  manhood.  It  was  a  day  of  emancipation.  It 
perpetually  set  forth  the  liberation  of  the  children  of  Israel 
from  the  bondage  by  which  they  w^ere  ground  down  in 
Egypt.  So  every  seventh  day  God  said  to  the  great  mass 
of  poor,  overworked  and  underfed  people,  "I  release  you 
to-day,  and  this  is  your  vacation." 

As  a  matter  of  history,  also,  it  is  true  that  the  observance 
of  the  Sabbath  was  not  in  any  sense  restrictive  or  burden- 
some. While  it  set  man  free  from  servile  toil,  it  did  not 
have  an  equivalent  of  bondage  in  the  form  of  worship. 
There  are  many  ways  in  which  a  man  can  be  oppressed. 
Not  a^one  the  hoe  and  the  plow,  but  the  Confession  of 
Faith  and  the  Catechism,  may  make  men  toil  and  sweat. 
A  man  may  have  rest  from  bone  and  muscle  weariness, 
but  may  have  ten  times  as  much  fatigue  of  brain.  The 
day  set  as  a  pearl  among  all  the  others,  and  the  most  blessed 
of  the  seven,  is  the  Sabbath  :  and  it  should  be  perpetually 
observed  as  a  day  of  Rest. 

There  are  some  aspects  of  the  Lord's  day  in  my  memory 
as  a  day  of  poetry.  On  that  day  it  seemed  to  my  young 
eyes  as  though  the  sacredness  of  God  had  descended  from 
heaven  and  clothed  the  earth.  Distances  were  never  so 
long.  Sounds  were  never  so  melodious.  Never  was  there 
mystic  brooding  of  heaven  upon  earth  such  as  came  down 
to  my  imagination  on  summer  Sunday  mornings  that  broke 
with  light  and  beauty  upon  the  Connecticut  hills  ;  and  if 
then  I  could  have  been  taken  by  the  hand,  and  led  into  the 
garden  of  the  Lord,  and  taught  to  hold  communion  with 
the  invisible,  there  would  not  have  been  one  dark  spot  on 
my  recollection  of  the  supreme  beauty  of  that  day  of  eman- 
cipation from  labor  of  soul  and  body. 

But  alas  for  the  catechism  !  Alas  for  the  dinners  of 
which    I  was    defrauded    because    I    could    not    learn    it  ! 


THE  SABBA  771. 


241 


Alas  for  the  hours  when  I  was  shut  up  in  a  room  by  my- 
self and  made  to  study  it  !  Alas  for  the  wearisomeness  of 
going  to  church  !  Alas  for  the  aching  of  my  little  legs  that 
could  not  reach  the  floor,  and  swung  from  the  high  board 
seats  !  Alas  for  the  rigor  of  that  well-intended  Puritan 
Sunday  on  which,  though  I  rested  in  body,  I  was  weary  and 
worn  out  in  mind  !  Though  the  sun  camxC  over  the  eastern 
horizon  bringing  scintillations  of  beauty  and  pleasure  and 
even  of  heavenly  imaginings  to  my  youthful  mind,  when  it 
went  down  over  the  w^estern  horizon  there  w^as  nothing 
that  said  ''  Good  riddance  to  you  !  "  with  the  eagerness 
that  I  did  ;  for  the  Sabbath  was  not  a  liberty  to  me  :  it  was 
to  me  an  imprisonment — a  restriction  of  my  freedom. 

Now,  this  did  not  belong  to  the  original  Sabbath  day. 
That  day  was  not  meant  to  be  an  oppression.  It  is  a  misuse 
of  it  that  makes  it  a  burden  in  any  sense. 

The  obligation  of  the  Sabbath  is  not  derived  from  the 
sanctions  of  Mount  Sinai  nor  from  Moses.  That  day 
is  obligatory  upon  us  on  account  of  our  human  nature. 
This  goes  deeper  than  either  of  the  other  reasons  stated. 
That  which  experience,  prolonged  and  various,  determines 
to  be  best  for  each  and  for  all,  is  the  voice  of  God.  That 
which,  after  suitable  trial,  is  found  to  be  most  effectual  in 
developing  and  advancing  mankind,  has  a  sanction  that 
could  not  have  been  given  by  Mount  Sinai.  Nature,  when 
at  last  we  understand  it,  is  the  voice  of  God,  and  is  as 
solemn  as  any  recorded  word  ;  and  the  Sabbath  day  comes 
to  us  as  divine  because  it  comes  with  an  experience  that 
justifies  its  institution,  that  renders  apparent  its  wisdom 
and  humanity,  and  that  makes  it  even  more  desirable  now 
than  it  was  in  antiquity. 

Hence,  futile  are  all  disputes  about  the  transfer  of  the 
Jewish  Sabbath  to  the  Christian  dispensation.  Above  all, 
futile  are  those  Pharisaic  difficulties  wiiich  spring  up  as  to 
what  day  we  shall  observe — whether  we  must  goon  observ- 
ing the  old  Jewish  Saturday,  or  whether  there  is  any 
authority  for  observing  our  Sunday.     As  if  men  had  kept 

track  of  the  seventh  day  of  creation,  when  God  wound  up 
16 


242  BIBLE  STCDIKS. 

his  work,  and  rested  !  As  if  the  Jews,  or  anybody,  were 
sure  of  being  on  that  very  track  !  As  if,  in  the  vast  confu- 
sions of  time,  there  were  any  credible  or  authoritative  record 
that  could  enable  one  to  determine  with  certainty  whether 
or  not  he  was  on  the  same  road  which  was  followed  in  this 
respect  by  men  of  primitive  days  !  The  question  never 
was,  whether  the  Sabbath  should  be  the  seventh  day  of 
the  week  :  the  question  always  was,  whether  it  should  be 
a  seventh  part  of  the  week.  It  is  one-seventh  part  that 
brings  emancipation  to  every  man,  woman,  and  child — that 
releases  from  burden  the  whole  community.  That  is  the 
Sabbath — not  the  particular  day  on  which  it  falls.  If  there 
is  any  sufficient  reason  for  putting  it  on  Monday,  Monday 
is  good  enough  ;  or  on  Tuesday,  Tuesday  is  good  enough  ; 
or  on  any  other  day,  that  day  is  good  enough  ;  but  it  is 
important  that  it  should  be  observed  on  the  same  day  by 
the  whole  nation,  and  by  every  nation,  so  that  there  shall  be 
consentaneousness  of  observation,  and  so,  fair-play  and  co- 
operation. It  is  not  wise  for  one  man  to  observe  one  day 
and  another  another  ;  that  would  fill  the  community  with 
infinite  confusions  and  disputes  ;  but  while  there  should  be 
one  day  of  rest  in  each  week,  it  is  of  no  importance  whether 
it  falls  on  Saturday,  on  Sunday,  or  on  any  other  day. 
There  is  no  direct  command  on  the  subject.  The  onl}^ 
obligation  resting  upon  us  to  observe  Sunday  is  that  which 
comes  up  through  our  nature.  We  are  to  do  it  because  it 
is  best  for  us,  for  our  children,  for  our  manservants,  for 
our  maidservants,  for  our  beasts  of  burden,  and  for  the 
stranger  that  is  within  our  gates.  Such  is  our  duty  in  re- 
gard to  the  Sabbath  day,  and  that  is  deep  enough,  broad 
enough,  authoritative  enough,  for  every  wise  man. 

We  need  this  day  as  much  as  it  was  needed  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  olden  time.  Indeed,  we  need  it  more  than  they 
did.  While  civilization  has  not  changed  the  necessity  for 
rest  during  one-seventh  part  of  the  time,  it  has  made  the 
need  more  imperative,  because  of  the  excessive  toil  of  this 
age  of  the  world  ;  because  of  added  cerebration.  Not 
only  do  the  bones  and  muscles  need   rest,  but  the  whole 


THE  SABBATH.  243 

head  and  nervous  system  need  it.  Reason,  moral  sentiment, 
domestic  affection,  and  the  ten  thousand  cares  of  compli- 
cated modern  life,  call  out  for  rest  more  imperiously  than 
ever  they  did  in  the  wilderness,  or  in  the  primitive  condi- 
tions of  a  simpler  form  of  society.  To-day  the  industry  of 
the  globe  is  such  that  the  vast,  uncountable  majority  of 
men  are  employed  in  drudgery.  Taking  the  world  through 
— and  more  and  more  as  you  come  up  into  semi-civilization 
and  civilization — men  are  working  like  machines,  without 
any  interest  except  that  of  getting  their  bread  and  raiment. 
Their  wages,  their  means  of  livelihood,  is  all  that  they  see 
coming  from  their  incessant  toil.  Beyond  that  they  have 
no  share  in  that  wealth  which  they  are  instrumental  in 
producing.  They  weave  with  rapidly-tiying  shuttle,  send- 
ing forth  a  gold-and-silver  thread  ;  and  the  garments  that 
come  out  of  the  loom  are  not  for  their  wearing  but  for 
the  wearing  of  others. 

Never  was  there  a  period  of  the  world  in  which  the 
great  mass  of  workingmen  had  so  much  right  as  now  to 
demand  absolute  rest  during  one-seventh  part  of  the  time 
— so  much  right  to  come  out  of  the  dreary  mine  ;  out  of 
the  dirty  stithy  ;  out  of  the  whirling  factory  ;  out  of  the 
field,  with  its  burdensome  tasks  ;  out  of  the  many  subordi- 
nations that  belong  to  the  lower  offices  of  complicated 
society. 

This  is  eminently  a  day  in  which  the  bottom  should 
come  up  to  the  top,  and  breathe.  As  you  have  seen,  on 
some  lake,  at  evening  twilight,  when  man  and  beast  and 
bird  no  longer  vex,  myriad  little  fishes  dotting  and  dim- 
pling the  whole  surface,  as  they  freely  rise  out  of  the  water 
to  breathe  the  air,  so  on  one  day  of  the  week  every  living 
creature  has  a  right  to  come  to  the  surface,  as  it  were,  and 
take  in  the  sweet  fresh  air  of  God's  day  of  rest. 

Then,  a  question  which  belongs  to  the  subject  of  the 
normal  occupation  of  man,  is  that  measureless  fatigue 
which  the  competitions  of  business  bring  upon  the  inter- 
mediary classes.  There  is  absolute  remorselessness  in  the 
industry  of  these  great  cities.     It  may  be  likened  to  the 


244  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

revolution  of  a  vast  treadmill  wheel,  which  goes  round 
and  round,  so  that  when  a  person  is  once  upon  it  he  must 
keep  stepping.  The  organized  industries  of  society  are  so 
various,  so  extensive,  so  tremendous,  that  the  master  me- 
chanic, the  merchant,  the  lawyer,  the  teacher,  everybody 
that  lives  by  his  brains,  finds  himself  perpetually  fagged, 
jaded,  worn,  till  the  very  flesh  cries  out,  and  till  the  care- 
furrows  upon  the  face  show  what  is  the  stress  to  which  he 
is  subjected.  And  there  is  nothing  that  men  given  to  toil 
need  more  than  rest.  If  there  be  any  difference  between 
us  and  those  that  lived  in  antiquity,  it  is  that  we  need  a 
Sabbath  more  than  they  did. 

But  let  us  bear  in  mind  that  rest  does  not  altogether 
mean  non-laboriousness,  though  to  some  extent  it  means 
that.  I  do  not  hold  the  old  Puritan  views  of  Sunday.  I 
try  to  follow  the  spirit  of  Christ. 

When  it  was  proposed  that  the  city  railroad  cars  should 
not  run  on  Sunday,  I  was  asked  to  sign  a  petition  to  that 
effect.  I  would  not  do  it.  I  was  glad  that  there  was  some 
way  in  which  the  crowded  population  of  the  city  could  get 
out  once  in  seven  days  into  the  country.  When  it  was  pro- 
posed to  open  the  public  libraries  and  reading-rooms,  and 
let  men  and  women  have  an  opportunity  to  read  there  on 
Sunday,  it  was  resisted,  and  I  defended  it.  I  advocate  it 
still.  I  believe  in  a  church  Sabbath  such  as  has  been  trans- 
mitted to  us  by  our  fathers  ;  but  I  couple  something  else 
.  with  it.  I  do  not  think  Christian  people  do  well  by  their 
servants,  who  live  so  affluently  on  the  Sabbath  day  that 
those  servants  have  no  chance  for  rest  ;  or,  if  they  do  not 
have  it  on  that  day  they  ought  to  have  it  on  another.  I  do 
not  believe  the  ferryboats,  or  city  railroads,  or  steamboats, 
or  hotels,  have  any  right,  by  paying  extreme  wages,  or  in 
any  other  way,  to  defraud  the  men  who  serve  them  of  their 
Sabbath.  I  do  not  mean  by  this  that  boats  and  cars  and 
hotels  should  not  be  run,  but  that  if  it  is  worth  while  to 
run  them  on  that  day,  it  is  but  right  that  there  should  be 
release  of  mind  and  body  provided  with  rotation  of  duties, 
so  that  all  should  have  a  Sabbath  everv  week. 


THE  SABBATH.  245 

It  is  said,  "  You  want  to  send  men  to  the  country  :  what 
about  the  drivers  and  conductors?  Don't  they  want  a 
Sabbath?"  Certainly  they  do;  and  I  plead  for  them. 
There  should  be  such  arrangements  that  every  conductor, 
every  driver,  every  waiter,  every  cook,  and  everybody 
under  him,  should  have  a  portion,  at  least,  of  every  Sunday 
for  rest,  or  if  not  of  Sunday  then  of  some  other  day.  I 
plead  for  those  that  are  on  the  great  wheel  of  society,  which 
is  perpetually  turning  round  and  round,  and  that  have  no 
Sabbath.  Though  they  may  not  miss  it,  we  ought  to  miss 
it  for  them.  It  is  for  us  to  think  for  the  unthinking,  and  to 
be  wise  for  the  unwise. 

It  is  often  said,  "  It  is  better  for  the  laboring  man 
that  he  should  go  out  into  the  country  than  that  he 
should  stay  at  home  and  go  to  church."  Well,  if  it  is  a 
question  as  to  whether  a  man  shall  remain  in  his  corner 
grocery  or  squalid  garret  or  go  to  the  country  on  Sunday, 
let  him  go  to  the  country,  in  God's  name  !  If  it  is  a  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  he  shall  spend  Sunday  on  the  street 
corners  or  whether  he  shall  go  into  the  open  fields  on  that 
day  in  summer,  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  which  is  best. 
It  is  far  more  wholesome  for  him  to  go  into  the  open  fields, 
especially  if  he  carries  with  him  the  spirit  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments. 

But  is  that  the  best  way  in  which  the  laboring  man  can 
spend  the  Sabbath  ?  Is  there  not  a  better  way  for  him  to 
rest  even  than  that  ?  What  we  want  for  rest  on  Sunday  is 
change,  variety,  to  give  vitality  to  that  part  of  ourselves 
which  is  not  much  developed  during  the  other  six  days  of 
the  week  ;  and  no  men  need  so  much  cerebral  stimulus  as 
men  who  give  six  days  out  of  every  seven  to  muscular  or 
mechanical  work.  To  make  a  man  think  with  the  highest 
faculties,  to  give  him  inspiration,  poetry,  moral  emotion — 
that  is  a  renovation  such  as  cannot  come  by  merely  snor- 
ing on  a  bed,  or  walking  in  a  garden  or  field  ;  and  I  hold 
that  every  man,  in  proportion  as  he  labors  during  the  week, 
needs  the  spiritualization  and  uplifting  which  come  from 
gathering  for  public  worship,  with  its  songs  and  teachings. 


U6  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

If,  therefore,  having  this  rest  of  change  for  one  class  of 
faculties,  men  also  take  social  joy  in  another  class,  I  have 
not  one  word  to  say  against  that.  I  believe  in  it.  I  do 
not  believe  that  men  are  to  be  tied  up.  Although  the  Jews 
were  put  to  death  if  they  worked  on  the  Sabbath,  they  had 
festivities  all  day  long.  It  was  a  day  of  rejoicing,  of  sing- 
ing, of  merriment.  In  the  time  of  Christ  it  was  a  day  of 
feasting,  and  he  himself  went  on  Sabbath  days  to  feasts  at 
rich  men's  houses.  He  would  have  been  turned  out  of  the 
Presbytery,  out  of  the  Council,  in  other  words,  out  of  the 
church,  if  he  had  done  that  in  New  England.  There  are 
things  that  Paul  and  his  Master  did  in  their  time  which 
they  could  not  have  done  if  they  had  lived  in  our  time. 

So,  the  true  Christian  Sabbath  is  one  in  which  a  man 
rests  from  labor,  and  which  reinvigorates  his  social  affec- 
tions. And  what  a  blessed  day  it  is  that  brings  a  man  into 
better  acquaintance  with  his  wife  and  children,  and  into 
fuller  fellowship  with  his  neighbors  !  How  much  of  rust 
would  be  rubbed  off  if  there  were  universal  sanctifying  in- 
tercourse, so  that  men  should  everywhere  meet  as  Chris- 
tian neighbors  and  households  ! 

We  want  more  relaxation  in  our  Sundays.  And  I  must 
utter  another  protest.  I  must  raise  my  voice  against  the 
want  of  a  proper  distribution  of  the  duties  of  a  wuse 
observance  of  the  Sabbath.  There  are  persons  in  every 
church  in  this  community  who  are  overburdened  with 
labor.  There  are  those  who  rise  early  for  private  devotion, 
and  then  care  for  the  children,  and  then  attend  the  preach- 
ing services  in  the  forenoon,  and  then  go  to  the  Sunday- 
school  in  the  afternoon,  and  then  take  part  in  a  prayer- 
meeting,  and  then  go  to  the  night  service,  and  then  return 
home  overwearied  and  stupid.  That  is  what  they  call 
''keeping  Sunday."  Nobody  has  any  business  to  keep 
Sunday  in  that  way, — making  it  the  hardest  day  of  the 
whole  week.  No  man  should  be  overtasked.  Everyone 
should  have  something  to  do,  so  as  to  make  the  day  easier 
for  all.  But  some  willing  workers  take  upon  themselves  so 
much  that  they  are  spiritual  slaves  on  the  Lord's  day.     To 


THE  SABBATH.  ■         247 

them,  instead  of  being  a  day  of  illumination  it  is  a  day  of 
severe  drudger}'. 

Of  course,  I  do  not  have  an}-  rest  on  Sunday.  There  is 
no  Sunday  for  me  when  you  have  it.  To  me  it  is  the  hard- 
est day  of  the  whole  week.  Were  it  not  that  I  take  my  rest 
in  installments  out  of  the  other  days  I  should  be  sabbath- 
less.  So  it  must  be,  from  the  very  organization  of  society, 
with  those  who  preach  the  Gospel.  But  for  the  great  mass 
of  those  who  are  engaged  in  heavy,  exhausting  labor  on 
other  days  during  the  week,  Sunday  is  the  day  of  rest. 

Therefore,  from  every  consideration,  it  behooves  us  to  be 
thankful  for  the  primitive  institution  of  the  Sabbath  ;  for 
that  Mosaic  economy  whose  fruits  have  come  down  to  us  ; 
for  that  experience  which  has  taught  us  to  base  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Sabbath,  not  on  a  historic  command,  not  on  a 
word  pronounced,  but  on  an  experience  four  thousand 
years  deep,  and  as  wide  as  the  human  family,  whatever  the 
obscuration,  the  perplexity,  and  the  limitation  may  be  with 
which  we  have  received  it.  Circumcision  has  gone,  sacri- 
fices have  gone.  Mosaic  laws  and  governments  have  gone  ; 
but  the  Sabbath  moves  on.  Like  the  pillar  of  fire  that 
went  by  night  before  the  Israelites  in  the  desert,  it  is  lumi- 
nous. It  leads  forward  the  civilization  of  the  present. 
Commencing  in  remote  antiquity,  it  has  come  down  to  us 
dropping  honey  upon  the  ages  as  it  came  ;  it  has  been  an 
unspeakable  blessing  to  the  races  of  mankind  ;  it  has 
brought  to  us  an  experience  mightier  than  the  voices  of 
Mount  Sinai  ;  and  it  is  for  us  to  make  it  more  melodious 
and  sweeter,  and  to  send  it  as  a  grand  chant  of  liberty 
down  through  the  ages  that  are  yet  to  come,  until  at  last 
the  earthly  Sabbath  shall  mingle  with  the  heavenly  Sab- 
bath, and  the  heaven  and  earth  shall  be  one,  to  rejoice  to- 
gether forever  more. 


XIII. 
MOSAIC  INSTITUTES 

HUMANITY, 


I  PROPOSE  to  enter,  to-night,  upon  an  exposition  of  the 
laws  of  Moses.  I  shall  not  discuss  the  question  of  their 
historical  development  ;  for,  whether  the  Pentateuch  rep- 
resents a  work  accomplished  and  recorded  in  the  lifetime 
of  Moses,  or  whether  upon  the  basis  of  such  a  record  it 
received  additional  elements  at  the  hands  of  scribes  from 
age  to  age,  so  that  we  owe  it,  as  many  scholars  think,  in  its 
present  form,  to  the  age  following  Solomon,  while  a  matter 
of  some  historical  interest,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  sufficient 
interest  to  my  purpose  for  me  to  discuss  it.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  origin  of  the  Pentateuch,  there  it 
stands;  and  it  contains  a  complete  system  of  customs, 
rules,  regulations,  and  laws,  besides  an  account  of  some  in- 
stitutions. 

When  you  examine  the  laws  that  are  embodied  in  this 
system  you  will  perceive  at  once  that  the  popular  notion 
that  all  of  them  were  whispered  into  the  ears  of  Moses  by 
the  lips" of  Jehovah  when  he  was  upon  the  Mount,  and  that 
Moses  was  a  writing  machine  who  took  down  what  was 
dictated  to  him,  is  not  sustained  by  the  facts.  It  will  be 
found  that  many  of  these  laws  were  handed  down  from 
the  patriarchs,  having  been  held  by  them  in  common  with 
the  race  from  which  they  sprang,  and  that  they  repre- 
sented a  given  state  of  attainment  in  antiquity.  It  will  be 
found  that  many  of  the  customs  sprang  up  in  the  primi- 


Sunday  evening,- February  2,  1S79.     Lesson:  Mark  xii.  1-34. 


MOSAIC  INSTITUTES:   HUMANITY.  249 

tive  period,  when  large  numbers  of  Israelites  resided  in 
Egypt,  in  the  land  of  Goshen.  It  will  be  found  that  there 
are  reminiscences,  hints,  suggestions,  remolded  or  bor- 
rowed from  the  Egyptians.  We  are  to  bear  in  mind  that 
Moses  himself  was  educated  in  all  the  wisdom  of  Egypt ; 
and  it  is  scarcely  possible  that  he  should  not  carry  with 
him  some  of  the  elements  that  were  incorporated  into  the 
system  which  he  was  to  establish  in  the  promised  land.  It 
will  be  seen,  also,  that  many  of  the  precepts  were  gathered 
from  the  experiences  of  the  desert. 

So  the  laws  and  institutions  of  Moses  represent  a  wide 
field.  As  a  matter  of  fact  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  say  that 
they  were  all  told  him  at  once,  and  that  he  wrote  them 
down  as  they  were  given  to  him  of  God.  They  were  de- 
veloped under  a  divine  providence  that  worked  through 
hundreds  of  years. 

This  does  not  detract  at  all  from  the  divinity  of  their  in- 
spiration ;  it  merely  gives  us  another  view  of  the  method 
by  which  divine  laws  were  made  known  to  men.     As  they 
stand  in  the  Pentateuch  one  is  at  first  almost  discouraged 
in  attempting  to  comprehend  them.     There  is  no  order  in 
their  arrangement.     They  may  be  said,  in  one  sense,  to  be 
jumbled  up.     All  sorts  of  laws  on  all  sorts  of  subjects  are 
strung  together  in  juxtaposition,  but  without  any  logical 
relation  or  scientific  classification.     And  they  are  repeated. 
You   find    them    stated  in    Exodus  ;  you  find  them  made 
known  again  in  Leviticus  ;  you  find  them  restated  in  Num- 
bers ;   and  you  find  them   more  at  large  set  forth  in  Deu- 
teronomy. '  So  there  is  at  once  a  sense  of  repetitiousness, 
and  almost  of  incongruity.     It  was  not  given  to  that  early 
time  philosophically  to  classify,  to  develop,  as  the  Romans 
did  first,   largely,  laws  pertaining   to   certain  subjects,  to 
gather  them  together,  and  to  give  them  a  logical  unfolding 
and  natural  sequence  ;  such  classification  or  development 
did  not  belong  to  the  literature  or  genius  of   Semitic  an- 
tiquity.    We  are  to  take  the  Mosaic  institutes  as  we  find 
them.     I  think    that  if  you  follow  me  in  examining  and 
attempting  to  classify  them,  you  will  agree  with  me,  before 


250  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

we  are  done,  that  they  are  abundantly  rich  ;  and  I  shall  be 
surprised  if  you  are  not  surprised  at  the  extent  of  this 
richness.  You  will  find  in  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures 
much  ore  that  you  have  not  yet  dug,  and  will  acknowledge 
that  the  Old  Testament  is  not  used  up  yet.  There  are  here 
laws  that  cover  the  whole  range  of  society  life  ;  laws  per- 
taining to  the  individual,  to  the  household,  to  national  and 
civil  life  ;  laws  relating  to  home  and  foreign  policy  ;  laws 
having  to  do  with  property  and  commerce  ;  laws  that 
regulated  public  worship  and  determined  religion  with  all 
its  requirements  ;  in  short,  laws  that  affected  the  whole 
moral,  social,  and  civil  estate  of  man. 

There  is  a  vague  popular  idea  that  the  laws  of  Moses 
concern  themselves  chiefly  with  forms  and  ceremonies  and 
sacrifices  ;  but  I  think  you  will  be  surprised  to  find  hovv^ 
much  of  wise  injunction  and  restriction  was  contained  in 
them  which  is  yet  needed  in  the  world,  concerning  every- 
day business  and  home  life. 

Especially  I  shall  ask  3^our  attention,  to-night,  to  the 
consideration  that  was  given  by  the  great  lawgiver  of 
antiquity  to  the  matter  of  humanity.  The  foundation 
principle,  we  are  informed  by  our  Master,  of  the  whole 
economy,  was,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  w^ith  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind. 
This  is  the  first  and  great  commandment..  And  the  sec- 
ond is  like  unto  it  :  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self." "On  these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  Law 
and  the  Prophets,"  said  Christ.  I  shall  put  the  more  im- 
portant last,  and  discuss  the  second  first. 

Thoti  shalt  love  tJiy  neighbor  as  thyself.  It  becomes  a  mat- 
ter of  very  great  interest, — and  it  ought  to  be  something 
more  than  curiosity, — how  the  Mosaic  enactments  came  to 
contain  this  injunction  quoted  by  our  Master,  which  he  said 
contained  the  whole  intent  and  meaning  of  the  Old  Testa 
ment  Scriptures.  When  you  examine  it,  is  it  true  to  fact  ? 
The  more  strict  duties  imposed  as  acts  of  worship  I  shall 
not  discuss,  but  I  shall  consider  the  duties  of  man  to  man, 
and  shall  not  by  any  means  exhaust  them  to-night. 


MOSAIC  INSTITUTES:   HUMANITY.  251 

In  the  first  place,  you  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  Israel- 
ites were  to  be  an  agricultural  and  not  a  commercial  peo- 
ple. They  sprang  from  a  pastoral  nation.  Much  in  their 
habits  began  in  Egypt,  where  they  were  semi-pastoral — 
pastoral  and  agricultural.  They  resumed  again  in  the  wil- 
derness their  pastoral  life.  It  was  the  design  of  their  leader 
and  lawgiver  that  when  they  entered  the  promised  land 
agriculture  should  be  the  basis  of  their  industry, — that  the 
State  should  live  by  agriculture,  not  commerce.  One  rea- 
son was  that  intense  love  of  nature  which  was  a  large  ele- 
ment in  the  Hebrew  make-up  —  the  keeping  of  men  in 
communion  with  the  great  natural  world.  Another  reason 
was  the  fact  that  commerce  was  so  undeveloped  at  that 
time  that  it  made  manifest  to  the  mind  of  Moses  only  its 
dangers.  Still  another  reason  was  the  fact  that  an  agri- 
cultural people  are  not  a  roving  people.  They  can  be  held. 
They  can  be  made  obedient  to  fixed  laws.  They  do  not 
fritter  away  home  influence  by  foreign  travel.  They  are 
not  apt  to  import  new  customs.  And  if  it  was  the  intent 
of  the  lawgiver  to  develop  a  high  moral  state  in  the  Israel- 
itish  people,  it  was  desirable  that  they  should  stay  at  home 
where  they  could  be  indoctrinated  in  wholesome  laws. 
That  which  is  alleged  to  have  been  cruel  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment economy,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  cutting  off  of  na- 
tions, I  think  will  receive,  if  not  a  perfect  solution,  yet 
much  amelioration,  when  we  consider  that  the  object  of 
the  lawgiver  was  to  keep  this  nation  separate  from  every 
other  till  they  had  been  thoroughly  educated  in  the  new 
idea  of  a  pure  and  holy  God,  ruling  pure  and  holy  men. 

In  short,  as  the  mother  keeps  the  children  at  home, 
sequesters  them,  lest  they  be  injured  by  a  neighborhood 
which  is  injurious  to  the  welfare  of  children,  and  does  not 
send  them  out  until  they  have  attained  character  and  man- 
hood, and  then  lets  them  go  forth,  so  the  divine  economy 
in  antiquity  was  to  take  this  select  people — the  peculiar 
people  of  God — and  bury  them,  as  it  were,  in  obscurity,  and 
develop  them  until  they  should  attain  such  moral  stature 
that  it  should  be  safe  for  them  to  go  out  ;  and  then  came 


252  BIBLE   STUDIES. 

the  words,  "Go  ye  now  into  all  the  world."  To  maintain 
this  separateness,  and  repel  the  temptations  that  came 
from  heathen  nations,  often  required  a  degree  of  severity, 
not  to  say  cruelt}^,  which  shocks  men  in  modern  times — 
although  I  think  modern  times  to  be  far  more  refinedly 
cruel  than  antiquity  was. 

When  the  Hebrews  took  possession  by  violence  of  the 
promised  land  it  was  distributed  first  among  the  tribes, 
and  then,  within  the  tribes,  it  was  apportioned  so  that 
every  family  had  its  shaire.  But  no  man  held  his  land  in 
fee-simple  ;  neither  was  it  held  in  fee-simple  by  the  priests 
or  by  the  government  :  for  God  was  their  King  ;  and  the 
theory  announced  and  followed  was  that  all  the  territory 
belonged  to  God.  The  consequence  was  that  when  it  was 
distributed  to  the  holders  they  were  tenants,  and  not 
owners.  And  they  paid  rent  (what  is  called  "tithes")  for 
the  support  of  priestly  tribes,  and  of  the  State.  Therefore, 
according  to  the  Mosaic  plan,  the  Jews  never  owned  the 
soil  in  fee-simple  in  the  early  da3\ 

You  will  find  this  distinctly  stated  in  Leviticus,  the  twen- 
ty-fifth chapter  :  "  The  land  shall  not  be  sold  forever  [in  per- 
petuity] :'  for  the  land  is  mine  ;  for  ye  are  strangers  and  so- 
journers with  me."  The  land  could  be  exchanged  between 
man  and  man,  but  it  could  not  be  sold  forever.  All  pur- 
chases of  land  were  subject  to  redemption  whenever  the 
seller  chose  to  redeem  it,  or,  if  he  could  not  do  it,  whenever 
his  next  of  kin  chose  to  redeem  it. 

Wherever  there  was  a  sale  of  land,  it  was  under  these  limi- 
tations and  conditions.  And  once  in  fifty  years  all  land 
came  back  anyhow.  There  were  seven  days,  and  one  was 
a  day  of  rest.  Then  there  were  seven  years,  with  a  sab- 
batic year  of  rest.  Then  there  were  seven  times  seven 
years,  making  forty-nine,  and  the  fiftieth  was  the  jubilee, 
or  great  year  of  rest. 

Now,  in  the  partition  of  land  it  was  leased,  subject  to  re- 
demption at  whatever  time  the  man  leasing  chose  to  redeem 
it ;  or,  if  he  could  not  do  it,  at  whatever  time  some  rich  kin 
could  redeem  it  ;   and  it  was  always  subject   to   inevitable 


MOSAIC  INSTITUTES:   HUMAMTY.  253 

return  to  the  original  household  or  family  on  the  fiftieth 
year.  So  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  any  one  tribe  grad- 
ually to  accumulate  or  appropriate  land  of  another  tribe  ; 
nor  was  it  in  the  power  of  one  strong  man  gradually  to 
gather  territory  into  his  hands,  and  leave  the  great  majority 
of  his  fellows  destitute  of  soil.  To  those  who  have  given 
thought  to  the  land  question,  especially  in  the  old  and 
crowded  territories  of  England,  there  is  much  food  for  re- 
flection in  this  land  theory  and  law  contained  in  the  Mosaic 
institutes,  especially  as  to  its  bearing  on  man's  treatment 

of  man. 

Another  peculiarity  in  regard  to  the  land  and  its  cultiva- 
tion was  this  :  that  the  land  could  only  be  cultivated  six 
years  out  of  seven.  It  was  not  permitted  to  cultivate  the 
land  at  all  the  seventh  year.  It  was  to  have  a  rest.  And 
the  promise  was  that  if  they  would  obey  the  command- 
ments of  God  he  would  make  the  sixth  year  so  fruitful  that 
with  the  natural  wild  increase  of  the  fields,  forests,  or- 
chards, and  gardens,  the  whole  seventh  year  should  be  abun- 
dantly' supplied  with  food.  They  were  not  to  plow,  nor 
reap,  nor  in  anywise  pursue  the  industries  of  agriculture. 
The  whole  land  had  to  have  its  rest,  an  entire  year  of  it, 
every  seven  years. 

The  Hebrews  being  placed  on  this  land,  the  most  strik- 
ing feature  that  arrests  our  attention  is  the  extraordinary 
humanitv  that  was  commanded  and  that  was  developed 
under  the  Mosaic  economy.  The  sacredness  of  human  life 
was  the  very  first  step.     It  was  made  sacred  by  every  de- 


vice. 


"  Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed." 
Murder  was  death  to  the  murderer.  No  compromise 
was  permitted  at  that  time.  There  were  no  courts  such  as 
clear  murderers  in  our  day.  There  was  no  provision  that 
sought  to  build  up  a  reputation  by  snatching  from  punish- 
ment notorious  murderers,  as  there  are  nowadays  in  every 
State  of  our  Union.  Whoever  took  the  life  of  a  man  forfeited 
his  own  life  ;  and  it  was  expressly  forbidden  to  make  any 


254 


BIBLE  STUDIES. 


compromise,  even  if  the  criminal  offered  untold  money  for 
his  life.  He  was  a  murderer,  and  he  must  pay  the  penalty 
by  death.  It  was  made  a  crime  to  be  so  much  as  careless 
of  life.  If  a  man  committed  manslaughter,  if,  without  in- 
tending it,  by  accident,  he  destroyed  his  neighbor,  if  by 
some  chance  stroke,  not  seeing  the  victim,  he  in  any  way 
destroyed  human  life,  it  was  the  right  of  the  next  of  kin  to 
the  man  killed  to  pursue  and  slay  the  slayer,  if  he  could  do 
so  before  he  got  into  a  city  of  refuge.  The  unintentional 
destruction  of  life  was  ranked  with  murder  ;  but  cities  of 
refuge  were  made  both  east  and  west  of  the  river  Jordan, 
to  which  men  who  had  accidentally  destroyed  the  life  of  an- 
other man  could  flee.  It  was  commanded  that  the  roads 
be  kept  open  so  that  men  under  such  circumstances  could 
travel  easily,  and  reach  one  of  these  cities,  and  be  safe.  Thus 
when  one  man  by  some  mischance  killed  a  fellow  man,  he 
dropped  his  flail  or  spade,  or  whatever  else  he  might  have 
in  his  hand,  and  fled  ;  for  the  avenger  of  the  spilled  blood, 
the  next  of  kin,  was  straightway  in  pursuit  of  him,  to  kill 
him  if  he  overtook  him  ;  but  if  he  reached  a  city  of  refuge 
before  hc'  was  overtaken,  he  could  not  be  harmed.  Yet, 
lest  men  who  had  committed  murder  should  pretend  that  it 
was  accidental  when  it  was  intentional,  it  was  retained  that 
every  man  who  should  flee  to  a  city  of  refuge  for  preserva- 
tion should  be  tried  by  the  officers  of  the  city,  who  would 
listen  to  liis  story,  and  to  the  pursuer's  story,  and  who,  if 
they  judged  him  to  be  innocent  would  give  him  refuge,  but 
who,  if  they  judged  him  to  be  guilty,  would  deny  him  shel- 
ter within  the  city's  bounds,  thus  leaving  him  to  be  deprived 
of  his  life,  which  he  had  forfeited.  This  sacredness  of  life 
under  the  law  of  Moses  stands  out  in  singular  contrast  to 
the  indifference  of  life  which  prevailed  among  all  the 
ancient  nations,  and  even  that  which  obtains  in  these  later 
days.  Not  only  was  the  murderer  to  be  destroyed  ;  not 
only  was  manslaughter  to  be  in  some  sense  punished,  in 
order  that  men  might  take  care  ;  but  even  carelessness  such 
that  a  man's  life  should  be  destroyed  by  an  animal  was 
made  penal  as  to  the  owner.     You  will  find  this  to  be  one 


MOSAIC  INSTITUTES:    HUMAXITY.  255 

of  the  earliest  declarations.  It  is  contained  in  the  twenty- 
first  chapter  of  Exodus,  and  is  again  mentioned  in  later 
enactments. 

"  If  an  ox  gore  a  man  or  a  woman,  that  they  die :  then  the  ox  shall  be 
surely  stoned,  and  his  flesh  shall  not  be  eaten  ;  but  the  owner  of  the  ox  shall 
be  quit.  But  if  the  ox  were  wont  to  push  with  his  horn  in  time  past,  and  it 
hath  been  testified  to  his  owner,  and  he  hath  not  kept  him  in,  but  that  he 
hath  killed  a  man  or  a  woman ;  the  ox  shall  be  stoned,  and  his  owner  also 
shall  be  put  to  death." 

It  is  as  if  it  were  said,  human  life  is  so  sacred  that  you 
must  not  only  not  murder,  but  you  must  not  even  be  care- 
less, lest  your  carelessness  may  lead  to  the  destruction  of 
human  life  ;  and  your  responsibility  for  care  against  acci- 
dent extends  even  to  your  animals.  If  some  animal  sud- 
denly develops  fury  which  he  never  exhibited  before,  that 
animal  shall  be  accursed.  You  shall  not  eat  him,  and  he 
shall  not  be  eaten.  He  is  impure.  Human  life  was  so 
sacred  that  the  wild  animal  was  condemned  to  destruction 
if  he  destroyed  it.  And  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  owner 
of  the  animal  knew  that  he  was  dangerous,  and  did  not 
keep  him  in  or  slaughter  him,  and  he  destroyed  a  man  or 
a  woman,  not  only  was  the  animal  subject  to  destruction, 
but  the  owner  was  condemned  to  death. 

Is  there  a  rumseller  in  this  town  that  does  not  know 
what  it  is  to  have  his  cups  push  with  the  horns  ?  Is  there 
a  man  that  is  selling  liquid  damnation,  day  and  night,  who 
does  not  know  what  is  the  peril  that  it  carries  with  it  ? 
Do  not  we  know  that  there  are  ten  thousand  devilish  bulls 
that  push  with  the  horns  as  dangerously  as  any  animal, 
and  that  intoxicating  drink  is  one  of  them  ?  And  is  the 
dealer  in  such  drink  to  go  scot-free  ?  Might  we  not  wisely 
go  back  for  our  laws  to  the  desert,  and  take  counsel  of 
Moses  and  the  old  Israelites  ? 

Still  further  the  sacredness  of  human  life  was  defended. 
If  a  man  were  found  dead  in  any  neighborhood,  and  no  one 
knew  how  he  came  to  lose  his  life,  then  there  was  to  be  an 
accounting.  It  was  such  a  discipline  as  was  very  effectually 
used  in  our  war,  and  such  as  is  used  in  all  great  wars. 
Where  soldiers  are  being  picked  off,  where  the  guards  of 


256  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

railroads  are  being  lurked  after  and  destroyed,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  township  or  county  in  which  the  occurrence 
takes  place  are  held  responsible  for  it.  The  neighborhood 
shall  pay  for  men  picked  off  in  that  way. 

It  is  supposed  that  this  provision  is  modern,  but  it  is  very 
ancient.  You  will  find,  for  instance,  in  the  twenty-first 
chapter  of  Deuteronomy,  the  following  : — 

"  If  one  be  found  slain  in  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee  to 
possess  it,  lying  in  the  field,  and  it  be  not  known  who  hath  slain  him  :  then 
thy  elders  and  thy  judges  shall  come  forth,  and  they  shall  measure  unto  the 
cities  which  are  round  about  him  that  is  slain  :  and  it  shall  be,  that  the  city 
which  is  next  unto  the  slain  man,  even  the  elders  of  that  city  shall  take  an 
heifer,  which  hath  not  been  wrought  with,  and  which  hath  not  drawn  in  the 
yoke  ;  and  the  elders  of  that  city  shall  bring  down  the  heifer  unto  a  rough 
valley,  which  is  neither  eared  nor  sown,  and  shall  strike  off  the  heifer's  neck 
there  in  the  valley. 

"And  the  priests  the  sons  of  Levi  shall  come  near ;  for  them  the  Lord  thy 
God  hath  chosen  to  minister  unto  him,  and  to  bless  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  ; 
and  by  their  word  shall  every  controversy  and  every  stroke  be  tried :  and  all 
the  elders  of  that  city,  that  are  next  unto  the  slain  man,  shall  wash  their 
hands  over  the  heifer  that  is  beheaded  in  the  valley :  and  they  shall  answer 
and  say,  Our  hands  have  not  shed  this  blood,  neither  have  our  eyes  seen  it. 
Be  merciful,  O  Lord,  unto  [Forgive,  O  Lord,]  thy  people  Israel,  whom 
thou  hast  redeemed,  and  lay  not  innocent  blood  unto  thy  people  of  Israel's 
charge. 

"And  the  blood  shall  be  forgiven  them." 

There  is  but  one  case  that  I  have  found  in  which  human 
life  may  be  peremptorily  taken,  and  no  account  be  given, 
and  that  is  where  a  man  is  a  thief  and  a  robber,  and  is  dis- 
covered breaking  into  a  house  to  steal.  The  owmer  or 
occupant  of  that  house  may  destroy  him  at  once,  and  be 
clear.  I  wish  that  Mosaic  economy  were  more  prevalent  in 
our  time.  It  is  the  impunity  that  robbers  have,  it  is  the 
cowardly  manhood  with  which  men  betray  their  trust  in 
failing  to  defend  their  own  possessions,  and  allowing  a 
thief  to  take  anything  he  pleases,  and  go,  rather  than  hurt 
him — it  is  this  that  gives  such  encouragement  to  burglars, 
whereas,  if  nine  men  out  of  every  ten  who  enter  a  house 
for  the  purpose  of  robbing  it  were  slaughtered,  robbers 
would  be  very  soon  diminished  and  the  community  would 
be  a  great  deal  better  off. 


MOSAIC  INSTITUTES:   HUMAXITY 


257 


But  while  the  whole  question  of  the  sanctity  of  human 
life  is  disclosed  by  this  brief  examination  of  the  laws  of 
INIoses,  I  would  not  have  you  suppose  that  it  begins  or  ends 
here.  This  is  but  a  single  specimen,  though  it  lies  at  the 
root  of  societ}^ 

I  wish,  next,  to  call  your  attention  to  the  profound  con- 
cern which  the  State,  as  organized  by  Moses,  was  called 
upon  to  take  for  the  poor  and  the  unfortunate.  In  the  first 
place,  it  was  ordained,  in  the  twenty-third  chapter  of 
Deuteronomy,  and  the  twenty-fourth  and  twenty-fifth 
verses,  that  any  man  suffering  from  hunger,  and  walking 
through  his  neighbor's  field  or  orchard  or  garden,  had  a 
right  to  eat  whatever  he  wanted — whether  melons,  apples, 
or  what  not.  He  must  not  pocket  them,  or  walk  off  with 
them  in  a  bag,  but  no  man  that  was  hungry  was  to  be 
denied  the  privilege  of  satisfying  his  hunger, 

"  When  thou  comest  into  thy  neighbor's  vineyard,  then  thou  mayest  eat 
grapes  thy  fill  at  thine  own  pleasure  ;  but  thou  shalt  not  put  any  in  thy  vessel. 
When  thou  comest  into  the  standing  corn  of  thy  neighbor,  then  thou  mayest 
pluck  the  ears  with  thine  hand;  but  thou  shalt  not  move  a  sickle  unto  thy 
neighbor's  standing  corn." 

The  poor  were  not  to  starve,  property  was  not  so  sacred 
as  human  life,  and  whoever  had  food  in  the  field  owned  it 
only  up  to  the  point  where  a  fellow  being  was  perishing 
with  hunger  :  then  it  belonged  to  the  man  that  needed  it — 
so  much  of  it  as  he  needed. 

More    than  that,  the    poor  man    had  a  right    to  glean. 

That  right  is  set  forth  so  strongly  in  the  next  chapter — the 

twenty-fourth — that  I  will  read  an  extract  from  it. 

"  When  thou  cuttest  down  thine  harvest  in  thy  field,  and  hast  forgot  a 
sheaf  in  the  field,  thou  shalt  not  go  again  to  fetch  it." 

If  it  slid  off  the  cart  behind  you  and  you  did  not  know^  it, 

and  it  was  hid  by  a  tree  or  stone,  or  if  you  forgot  it,  let  it 

stay  there. 

"  It  shall  be  for  the  stranger,  for  the  fatherless,  and  for  the  widow :  that 
the  Lord  thy  God  may  bless  thee  in  all  the  work  of  thine  hands.  When  thou 
beatest  thine  olive  tree,  thou  shalt  not  go  over  the  boughs  again  [the  second 
time,  that  is]  :  it  shall  be  for  the  stranger,  for  the  fatherless,  and  for  the 
widow.  When  thou  gatherest  the  grapes  of  thy  vineyard,  thou  shalt  not 
17 


258  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

glean  it  afterward :  it  shall  be  for  the  stranger,  for  the  fatherless,  and  for  the 
widow.  And  thon  shalt  remember  that  thou  wast  a  bondman  in  the  land 
of  Egypt :  therefore  I  command  thee  to  do  this  thing." 

What  humanity  there  was  in  it  ! 

You  have  read  the  inimitable  story  of  Ruth  and  Boaz. 
There  is  portrayed  in  an  exquisite  idyllic  picture  this  great 
beneficence,  by  which  every  man  was  obliged,  as  it  were, 
to  make  the  poor  partners  of  his  prosperity. 

Great  consideration,  also,  was  shown  toward  the  poor  in 
the  matter  of  their  wages. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  oppress  a  hired  servant  that  is  poor  and  needy,  whether 
he  be  of  thy  brethren,  or  of  thy  strangers  that  are  in  thy  land  within  thy  gates." 

He  was  not  speaking  of  the  Chinese  at  that  time  :  he 
was  speaking  of  strangers  that  belonged  around  about  the 
head  of  the  Kedron. 

"At  his  day  [that  is,  the  day  on  which  he  earns  it]  thou  shalt  give  him 
his  hire,  neither  shall  the  sun  go  down  upon  it;  for  he  is  poor,  and  setteth 
his  heart  upon  it :  lest  he  cry  against  thee  unto  the  Lord,  and  it  be  sin  unto 
thee." 

In  the  matter  of  paying  wages  as  soon  as  they  are 
earned,,  would  it  not  be  worth  while  to  have  the  law  of 
Moses  instituted  in  some  of  our  families  where  we  do  not 
pay  up  the  servants  for  weeks  and  months?  WouM  it  not 
be  well  to  have  some  of  Moses'  laws  enforced  in  some  of 
the  business  houses  in  New  York,  and  iii  the  great  manu- 
facturing centers  where  caps,  shirts,  and  clothes  are  made, 
where  the  wages  are  cut  down  to  the  lowest  point,  and 
where  the  employees  find  it  hard  to  get  what  is  promised 
them-? 

There  is  in  New  York  an  institution  that  has  the  bless- 
ing of  God  on  it.  It  is  an  association  of  gentlemen  and 
ladies  to  enforce  the  payment  of  their  wages  to  the  poor, 
and  hundreds  and  thousands  of  dollars  have  been  collected 
through  the  beneficence  of  this  association  without  a  pen- 
ny's expense  to  those  for  whom  it  was  collected.  It  is  not 
modern,  however.  The  origin  of  it  was  in  the  Mosaic  in- 
stitutes. Men  were  commanded  to  pay  the  poor  their 
wages,  and  to  pay  them  the  day  they  earned  them,  not  only 


MOSAIC  IXSTITUTES:    IIUMAXITY.  259 

because  they  were  poor,  but  because  in  dealing  with  the 
poor  men  were  forbidden  all  usury  ;  and  that  does  not 
mean  excessive  interest,  but  any  interest, — usance, — pay- 
ment for  the  use  of  the  loan. 

"  Thou  sbalt  not  lend  upon  usury  to  thy  brother." 

This  w^as  not  a  commercial  nation,  and  interest  then  did 
not  bear  the  same  relation  to  money  that  it  does  now. 
The  Hebrews  were  an  agricultural  people,  and  they  had  no 
occasion  for  borrowing  capital,  as  w^e  have,  for  purposes  of 
development.  Men  worked  day  by  day,  and  yet,  on  ac- 
count of  inequality  of  soil,  or  because  of  difference  of  skill, 
or  for  other  reasons,  some  men  were  in  penury  and  want 
while  others  had  an  abundance  ;  and  men  were  forbidden 
to  lend  to  their  brethren  and  charge  them  anything  for  the 
accommodation. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  lend  upon  usury  to  thy  brother ;  usury  of  money,  usury 
of  victuals,  usury  of  anything  that  is  lent  upon  usury  :  unto  a  stranger  thou 
mayest  lend  upon  usury ;  but  unto  thy  brother  thou  shalt  not  lend  upon 
usury  :  that  the  Lord  thy  God  may  bless  thee  in  all  that  thou  settest  thine 
hand  to  in  the  land  whither  thou  goest  to  possess  it." 

And  if  thev  grot  in  debt  one  to  another,  there  was  a  limit 
even  to  the  obligation  of  a  debt  that  was  incurred  ;  for  it 
is  implied  that  debts  not  paid,  or  unliquidated,  by  reason 
of  inability,  in  process  of  time  became  outlawed  ;  and 
every  seventh  year  settled  all  debts.  In  other  words,  there 
was  a  periodical  bankrupt  act  by  which  everything  unset- 
tled when  the  seventh  year  came  round  settled  itself.  No 
man  could  be  tied  up  all  his  life  on  account  of  what  he 
owed  ;  and  no  one  could  make  poor  men  literally  his 
slaves,  under  the  pressure  of  constantly  accumulating  debt. 
They  rose  up  every  seventh  year  free  from  the  debts  under 
which  they  had  been  struggling.  What  wisdom  !  What 
humanity  ! 

But  it  might  be  that  men,  under  such  circumstances  as 
these,  would  shut  up  their  hearts  against  their  neighbors, 
since  they  could  not  take  usury,  and  since  debts  incurred 
and  not  paid  were  quashed  on  the  seventh  year  ;  but  pro- 
vision was  made  against  that. 


26o  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

"At  the  end  of  every  seven  years  thou  shalt  make  a  release.  And  this 
is  the  manner  of  the  release  :  Every  creditor  that  lendeth  aught  unto  his 
neighbor  shall  release  it ;  he  shall  not  exact  it  of  his  neighbor,  or  of  his 
brother  ;  because  it  is  called  the  Lord's  release.  Of  a  foreigner  thou  mayest 
exact  it  again  :  but  that  which  is  thine  with  thy  brother  thine  hand  shall 
release  ;  save  when  there  shall  be  no  poor  among  you  ;  for  the  Lord  shall 
greatly  bless  thee  in  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee  for  an 
inheritance  to  possess  it :  only  if  thou  carefully  hearken  unto  the  voice  of  the 
Lord  thy  God,  to  observe  to  do  all  these  commandments  which  I  command 
thee  this  day.  For  the  Lord  thy  God  blesseth  thee,  as  he  promised  thee : 
and  thou  shalt  lend  unto  many  nations,  but  thou  shalt  not  borrow ;  and  thou 
shalt  reign  over  many  nations,  but  they  shall  not  reign  over  thee. 

"  If  there  be  among  you  a  poor  man  of  one  of  thy  brethren  within  any  of 
thy  gates  in  thy  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee,  thou  shalt  not 
harden  thine  heart,  nor  shut  thine  hand  from  thy  poor  brother :  but  thou 
shalt  open  thine  hand  wide  unto  him,  and  shalt  surely  lend  him  sufficient 
for  his  need,  in  that  which  he  wanteth.  Beware  that  there  be  not  a  thought 
in  thy  wicked  heart,  saying.  The  seventh  year,  the  year  of  release,  is  at  hand  ; 
and  thine  eye  be  evil  against  thy  poor  brother,  and  thou  givest  him  naught ; 
and  he  cry  unto  the  Lord  against  thee,  and  it  be  sin  unto  thee.  Thou  shalt 
surely  give  him,  and  thine  heart  shall  not  be  grieved  when  thou  givest  unto 
him  :  because  that  for  this  thing  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  bless  thee  in  all  thy 
works,  and  in  all  that  thou  puttest  thine  hand  unto. 

"  For  the  poor  shall  never  cease  out  of  the  land:  therefore  I  command 
thee,  saying,  Thou  shalt  open  thine  hand  wide  unto  thy  brother,  to  thy  poor, 
and  to  thy  needy,  in  thy  land." 

Further  tlian  this,  where  men  lent  on  the  promise  of  re- 
payment, and  the  borrower  was  unable  to  keep  his  prom- 
ise, humanity  was  also  enjoined,  showing  that  the  heart  of 
the  lawgiver,  as  inspired  by  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of 
God,  was  in  intimate  sympathy  with  the  helpless  and  the 
needy.  Turn  to  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Deuteronomy 
and  you  will  find  him  speaking  after  this  manner  : — 

"  No  man  shall  take  the  nether  or  the  upper  millstone  to  pledge." 

It  is  not  likely  that  it  was  our  ordinary  kind  of  mill.  In 
antiquity  mills  were  as  portable  as  old-fashioned  hand 
coffee-mills,  with  a  revolving  stone  turned  by  hand. 
Again  : — 

"When  thou  dost  lend  thy  brother  anything,  thou  shalt  not  go  into  his 
house  to  fetch  his  pledge.  Thou  shalt  stand  abroad,  and  the  man  to  whom 
thou  dost  lend  shall  bring  out  the  pledge  abroad  unto  thee.  And  if  the  man 
be  poor,  thou  shalt  not  sleep  with  his  pledge," 


MOSAIC  INSTITUTES:   HUMANITY.  261 

In  other  words,  you  are  not  to  issue  an  execution,  and, 
taking  the  officer,  or  yourself  acting  as  an  officer,  go  in  and 
pick  out  the  best  things  you  can  find,  and  remove  them. 
The  man  himself  is  to  be  allowed  to  select  what  he  can 
easiest  spare.  If  he  select  a  garment  (and  one  who  is  poor 
has  nothing  better  than  that,  often)  you  have  no  right  to 
keep  it.  As  to  setting  a  man's  furniture  out  on  the  side- 
walk, as  to  taking  his  bed  from  under  him,  as  to  kicking 
him  into  the  street, — it  is  an  outrage  that  never  entered  into 
the  head  of  Moses,  even  to  forbid  it. 

More  than  this,  you  will  observe  that  while  there  was  a 
distinction  made  between  the  Israelites  and  foreigners 
there  was  no  discrimination  that  was  oppressive.  There 
was  to  be  a  greater  degree  of  love  and  a  larger  exercise  of 
humanity  toward  the  Hebrews  ;  but  there  was  the  most 
explicit  provision  made  for  kindness  in  the  treatment  of 
the  foreigner.  If  you  will  turn  to  the  book  of  Exodus  you 
will  be  struck  with  the  ground  and  reason  given  for  it.  In 
the  twelfth  chapter  and  the  forty-ninth  verse  is  this  com- 
mand : — 

"One  law  shall  be  to  him  that  is  homeborn,  and  unto  the  stranger  that 
sojourneth  among  you." 

"  When  a  stranger  shall  sojourn  with  thee,  and  will  keep  the  passover  to 
the  Lord,  let  all  his  males  be  circumcised  [enter  into  Abraham's  covenant 
with  God],  and  then  let  him  come  near  and  keep  it ;  and  he  shall  be  as  one 
that  is  born  in  the  land :  for  no  uncircumcised  person  shall  eat  thereof." 

He  may  come  in  and  take  part  with  you  if  he  please  ; 
but  if  he  do  not  please  you  shall  not  press  him.  Toleration, 
a  large  consideration  of  the  natural  rights  of  men,  is  a  very 
striking  feature  here. 

Look  at  the  repetitious  care  with  which  the  rights  of 
men,  as  distinguished  from  Jewish  rights,  are  set  forth  and 
guarded  in  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  Leviticus,  the  thirty- 
third  and  thirt3'-fourth  verses  : — 

"And  if  a  stranger  sojourn  with  thee  in  your  land,  ye  shall  not  vex  him. 
But  the  stranger  that  dwelleth  with  you  shall  be  unto  you  as  one  born  among 
you,  and  thou  shalt  love  him  as  thyself  ;  for  ye  were  strangers  in  the  land 
of  Egypt :     I  am  Jehovah  your  God." 

Look  at  the  repetition,  also,  in   Deuteronomy,  which  is 


262  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

ev^en  stronger  yet,  in  some   respects,  in  the  tenth  chapter, 
from  the  seventeenth  verse  to  the  nineteenth  : — 

"  For  Jehovah  your  God  is  God  of  gods,  and  Lord  of  lords,  a  great  God, 
a  mighty,  and  a  terrible,  which  regardeth  not  persons,  nor  taketh  reward  : 
he  doth  execute  the  judgment  of  the  fatherless  and  widow,  and  loveth  the 
stranger,  in  giving  him  food  and  raiment.  Love  ye  therefore  the  stranger : 
for  ye  were  strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt." 

Hear  this,  ye  Christian  people  that  have  trod  down  the 
African  as  dirt  in  tlie  street  !  Hear  this,  O  Christian 
nation  that  is  destroying,  not  the  stranger  in  the  land,  but 
the  original  occupant,  who  held  possession  of  it  before  ye 
came  hither  !  Hear  this,  ye  that  refuse  to  let  China  stand  by 
herself,  that  broke  down  her  towers  and  demanded  that  she 
should  come  forth  and  become  one  of  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  and  that  then,  when  she  came  forth  reluctantly,  and 
sent  out  her  scholars,  teachers,  and  laborers  into  our  land, 
said,  "  The  Chinaman  must  go  " — that  said,  first,  "  He  shall 
not  stay  at  home  ;"  and,  second,  "  He  shall  not  abide  here  ; 
he  shall  be  swept  into  the  ocean  !  "  Nearly  four  thousand 
years  have  gone,  and  the  world  in  many  regards  has  been 
ripened,  but  the  heart  of  this  people  to-day  is  coarser  and 
harder  than  it  was  when  Moses  led  the  Israelites  in  the 
desert.  There  shall  be  one  law  for  Jiim  that  is  honieborn  and 
for  Jiiui  that  eonies  among  you — one  law  for  the  German,  one 
law  for  the  Irishman,  one  law  for  the  American,  and,  as  God 
is  just,  one  law  for  the  Chinaman,  throughout  this  land  ! 
Are  we  to  sit  supine  and  indifferent — we  that  have  the 
whole  thunder  of  the  Old  Testament  rising  up  against  us  ? 
Are  we' to  say,  "  Politicians  are  doing  it,  and  we  shall  lose 
the  election  if  we  interfere  "  ?  Is  iniquity  to  be  enforced  as 
law,  and  are  provisions  for  the  protection  of  our  fellow  men 
to  go  by  default,  and  are  the  very  foundations  on  which 
this  great  nation  stands  to  be  undermined,  and  are  those 
that  are  working  these  mischiefs  to  be  tolerated  without 
rebuke  and  indignation  ?  The  judgments  of  God  will 
neither  linger  nor  slumber.  Accursed  be  the  nation  that 
despises  the  poor  and  maltreats  the  stranger  !  Accursed 
be  the  people  that  execute  injustice  upon  the  head  of  the 


MOSAIC  JXSTITCTES:    IIUMAXITY.  263 

helpless  and  those  that  are  ready  to  perish  !  I  care  noth- 
ing for  politics,  but  I  care  ever3^thing  for  principle.  I  care 
notliingfor  party,  this  or  that,  compared  with  the  honor  of 
our  people — compared  with  the  glory  of  this  great  free- 
born  nation,  that  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  set  an  example 
tliat. would  make  the  desert  blush  for  inhumanity  ! 

Pardon  me — I  must  go  back  to  Moses  ;  and  it  is  a  great 
way  back  !  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  another  fea- 
ture in  the  development  of  the  great  humanity  of  the  laws 
of  Moses,  namely,  the  nature  of  the  punishments  among 
the  Jews  as  contrasted  with  the  penalties  inflicted  by  other 
nations.  The  national  punishment  was  stoning.  Death  by 
that  mode  is  probably  as  easy  as  death  by  almost  any  other 
mode.  A  sound  blow  on  the  head  settles  it.  After  receiv- 
ing such  a  blow  men  are  no  longer  conscious,  and  there- 
fore do  not  suffer.  Stoning  was  the  national  method  of 
execution.  The  sword  came  next — especially  in  the  cases 
of  those  that  suffered  by  reason  of  sentence  of  war.  Be- 
side this,  there  were  no  cruel  punishments  of  men  among 
the  Israelites.  In  other  nations  men  were  slowly  roasted 
in  ashes  and  embers  ;  their  feet  were  cut  off ;  their  hands 
were  removed  ;  their  eyes  were  put  out  ;  they  were  sawn 
asunder  ;  they  were  impaled,  a  stake  being  driven  through 
the  whole  length  of  their  bodies  ;  and  they  were  crucified  ; 
all  of  these  were  foreign  punishments  :  but  the  legislation 
of  Moses  was  stainless  in  that  regard.  There  was  not  a 
cruel  punishment  permitted  by  it.  It  allowed  no  torments. 
While  it  insisted  upon  exact  justice,  it  was  administered 
with  the  greatest  humanity  capable  of  producing  the  re- 
quired effect. 

But  look  at  the  bloody  laws  of  England.  Look  at  our 
own  earlier  legislation.  We  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  com- 
pare it  with  the  Mosaic  humanities. 

Not  only  were  all  these  things  true  that  I  have  mentioned 
to-night,  but  I  call  your  attention  briefly  to  the  extraordi- 
nary stretch  of  humane  principles  toward  slaves,  animals, 
and  nature  itself.  There  is  not  a  parallel  in  the  legislation 
of  anv  nation. 


264  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

In  the  first  place,  it  was  forbidden  to  make  slaves  of 
Hebrews  even  in  the  sense  in  which  it  was  permitted  to 
make  slaves  of  foreigners.  You  might  hire  or  take  a  man 
for  service  for  six  years,  and  he  w'ould  go  free  on  the 
seventh  3'ear,  That  was  the  extent  of  the  service  that  was 
allowed  to  be  inflicted  on  a  native  born  Hebrew.  It  was 
like  hiring  a  man  for  a  term  of  years.  The  Roman  law  of 
slavery  never  prevailed  in  Judea  or  Palestine — that  ac- 
cursed law  that  disfranchised  a  man  and  took  away  his 
manhood,  and  ranked  him  as  an  animal,  and  bought  and 
sold  him  without  regard  to  his  feeling  or  interest.  The 
feature  of  Roman  slavery  which  under  American  slavery 
allowed  the  making  of  the  condition  of  the  slave  as  bad  as 
it  might  be,  was  unknown  to  the  Jews. 

Under  the  Jewish  system  the  slave  had  a  right  to  redeem 
himself  if  he  could.  Nay,  if  he  was  maltreated,  if  a  brutal 
master  smote  him  so  as  to  maim  him,  that  set  him  free.  If 
he  lost  an  eye,  that  emancipated  him.  If  the  treatment  he 
received  in  the  household  w^as  such  that  he  fled,  that  fact 
was  considered  to  be  evidence  that  he  was  oppressed  ;  and 
it  was  forbidden  that  he  be  caught  and  returned  to  his 
master.  It  was  taken  for  granted  that  persons  from  for- 
eign nations  would  find  their  condition  as  slaves  so  much 
better  that  they  would  not  run  away  unless  there  was  good 
reason  for  it  ;  and  anything  like  our  Fugitive  Slave  Law 
could  not  have  been  thought  of  in  the  time  of  Moses.  It 
took  about  four  thousand  years  of  religion  to  develop  that 
abomination. 

Nay,  more  :  around  about  the  service  of  foreign-born 
men,  such  as  it  was,  were  thrown  all  the  alleviations  that 
belong  to  the  native  population.  These  men  had  the  Sab- 
bath to  themselves  as  much  as  the  Jews.  The  sabbatic 
year  w^as  theirs  as  much  as  it  was  their  masters'.  The 
great  jubilee,  also,  was  theirs  as  much  as  itw-as  their  mas- 
ters'. They  partook  of  all  great  festivals.  They  had  a 
right  to  be  circumcised  and  become  Hebrews  by  adoption. 
If  they  did  not  want  to  be  set  free  the  master  had  to  make 
provision  for  them. 


MOSAIC  IXSTirUTES:   IIL'MAXITV.  265 

"And  it  shall  be,  if  he  sa\-  unto  thee,  I  will  not  go  away  from  thee  ;  because 
he  lovcth  thee  and  thine  house,  because  he  is  well  with  thee ;  then  thou 
shalt  take  an  awl,  and  thrust  it  through  his  ear  unto  the  door,  and  he  shall 
be  thy  servant  forever," 

I  do  not  recollect  the  record  of  a  case  in  which  any 
American  slave  who  was  offered  his  freedom,  and  given 
permission  to  go,  loved  servitude  better  than  emancipation  ; 
and  what  must  have  been  the  nature  of  Jewish  slavery 
when  this  enactment  was  made  ?  The  time  has  gone  by 
for  us  to  be  interested  in  this  subject  as  we  should  have 
been  twenty  years  ago. 

As  I  have  said,  not  only  slaves  but  animals  were  not  to 
be  abused.  It  was  forbidden  to  muzzle  the  ox  that  trod 
out  the  corn.  As  the  poor  had  a  right  to  glean,  so,  when 
the  crop  w^as  being  threshed,  the  ox  had  a  right  to  eat 
what  he  needed,  and  he  was  not  to  be  muzzled.  And  if 
mercy  was  to  be  shown  toward  an  animal,  how  much  more 
should  mercy  be  shown  toward  a  man,  who  is  so  much 
better  than  an  ox  ! 

Again,  you  will  find  this  decree: — 

"  Thou  shalt  not  seethe  a  kid  in  his  mother's  milk." 

In  other  words,  the  parental  relation  was  to  be  so  sacred 
that  a  Jew  should,  by  association,  shrink  from  slaying  a 
kid,  a  lamb,  or  a  calf,  and  then  cooking  it  in  its  mother's 
milk.  It  ought  to  shock  one's  sensibility,  and  it  did 
theirs.  What  humanity  to  animals,  that  even  their  paren- 
tal feelings  were  to  be  respected  !  They  were  defended 
from  becoming  victims  to  those  horrible,  over-boiling 
human  lusts  which  existed  in  contemporaneous  nations. 

And  even  nature  was  treated  with  great  tenderness. 
Allow  me  to  read  from  Leviticus,  the  nineteenth  chapter 
and  the  twenty-third  verse,  a  remarkable  enactment. 

"  When  ye  shall  come  into  the  land,  and  shall  have  planted  all  manner 
of  trees  for  food,  then  ye  shall  count  the  fruit  thereof  as  uncircumcised  : 
three  years  shall  it  be  as  uncircumcised  unto  you  :  it  shall  not  be  eaten  of. 
But  in  the  fourth  year  all  the  fruit  thereof  shall  be  holy  to  praise  Jehovah 
wnthal.  And  in  the  fifth  year  shall  ye  eat  of  the  fruit  thereof,  that  it  may 
yield  unto  you  the  increase  thereof :     I  am  Jehovah  your  God." 

If  anyone  planted  a  grape  vine  he  was  forbidden  to  gather 


266  BIBLE  STUDll-:s. 

the  tender  fruit,  the  first  little  clusters,  for  four  years  of  its 
bearing,  and  so  weaken  its  growth  ;  but  after  that  the  vine 
was  strong  enough  to  bear  harvests  and  to  admit  of  their 
being  gathered  and  consumed  without  injury. 

And  if  a  bird's  nest  chanced  to  be  in  the  way,  in  any  tree, 
or  on  the  ground,  they  were  commanded  not  to  destroy  it. 
To  the  bird,  the  sweet  singer,  the  minister  of  joy,  they  were 
to  be  humane. 

Be  humane,  then,  to  the  bird  ;  be  humane  to  the  animal  ; 
be  humane  to  the  slave  ;  and  be  humane  to  the  foreigner. 
Take  care  of  the  poor,  and  take  care  of  your  neighbor. 
When  Christ  said,  "Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  he  gave 
out  the  key  with  which  to  unlock  the  Old  Testament. 
But  I  have  not  told  vou  the  half  of  it  vet  ;  and  I  shall 
resume  the  subject  next  Sabbath  evening. 


XIV. 

MOSAIC  INSTITUTES: 

THE  HOUSEHOLD, 


"  When  thy  son  asketh  thee  in  time  to  come,  saying,  What  mean  the 
testimonies,  and  the  statutes,  and  the  judgments,  which  the  Lord  our  God 
hath  commanded  you  ?  Then  thou  shalt  say  unto  thy  son,  We  were  Pha- 
raoh's bondmen  in  Egypt ;  and  the  Lord  brought  us  out  of  Egypt  with  a 
mighty  hand  :  and  the  Lord  showed  signs  and  wonders,  great  and  sore, 
upon  Egypt,  upon  Pharaoh,  and  upon  all  his  household,  before  our  eyes  : 
and  he  brought  us  out  from  thence,  that  he  might  bring  us  in,  to  give  us 
the  land  which  he  sware  unto  our  fathers.  And  the  Lord  commanded  us 
to  do  all  these  statutes,  to  fear  the  Lord  our  God,  for  our  good  always, 
that  he  might  preserve  us  alive,  as  it  is  at  this  day.  And  it  shall  be  our 
righteousness,  if  we  observe  to  do  all  these  commandments  before  the 
Lord  our  God,  as  he  hath  commanded  us." — Deut.  vi.  20-25. 


It  may  seem  as  though  it  were  a  more  profitable  thing 
to  discuss  living  nations  and  contemporaneous  events  than 
to  go  back  thousands  of  years  to  an  early  people,  in  an 
Oriental  land,  of  a  different  language,  and  of  different 
habits,  hunting  up  the  memorials  of  antiquity  ;  but,  quite 
aside  from  any  archeological  curiosit}',  we  have  a  very 
special  interest  in  the  study  of  the  early  history  of  the 
Hebrews  ;  for  scarcely  less  directly  descended  from  that 
people  are  they  that  came  from  the  loins  of  the  Hebrews 
than  we,  who  are  descended  from  their  spiritual  loins. 
The  Hebrew  laws — the  Hebrew  Scriptures — have  been 
especial  companions  of  the  reformers,  martyrs,  witnesses, 
confessors  of  the   truth   throuohout  Christendom.     Those 


Sunday  evening,  February  16,  1879.     Lesson:  Deut.  vii  6-25. 


268  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

Scriptures  were  largely  issued  in  stormy  times  ;  and,  ever 
since,  men  in  stormy  times,  under  pressure,  have  found 
them  eminently  congenial  to  themselves.  Although  the 
New  Testament  was  not  disregarded  by  our  Puritan  ances- 
tors, it  must  be  said  that  they  lived  largely  in  the  spirit  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  were  greatly  fashioned  by  the 
Hebrew  spirit,  which  gave  to  England,  and  to  New  Eng- 
land, a  kind  of  intellectual  lineage,  heart  lineage,  and  polit- 
ical lineage.  We  have  the  Greek  metaphysics  and  philos- 
ophy, and  we  have  the  Hebrew  moral  sense  ;  and  though 
they  strive  mightily,  and  are  not  always  reconcilable  with 
each  other,  yet  we  are  the  children  of  both.  Therefore  we 
have  a  heritage  in  these  old  Scriptures.  They  are  the 
birthplace  of  our  thoughts.  They  are  the  roots  from 
which  we  are  now  gathering  fruit  for  many  of  our  dearest 
institutions.  We  know  not  how  large  a  part  of  that  which 
dignifies  life,  and  gives  value  to  everything  around  about 
us,  we  owe  to  the  spirit  of  Moses,  to  the  institutions  of 
Moses,  and  to  the  wonderful  developments  of  the  Hebrew 
people. 

I  proceed,  to-night,  to  review  certain  elements  that 
belong  to  the  constitution  of  the  Hebrew  polity.  In  my 
last  lecture  of  this  series,  delivered  two  weeks  ago,  I 
attempted  to  show  the  spirit  of  humanity  w^hich  ran 
through  the  whole  Mosaic  economy,  that  it  was  of  the 
largest  type,  how  it  bound  men  together  by  the  cords  of  a 
loving  hopefulness,  working  in  every  relation  of  society, 
and  taking  charge  of  the  poor  and  ignorant.  I  undertook 
to  explain  that  the  laws  of  Moses  were  protective  of  the 
wants  of  the  laboring  classes,  and  of  the  weak  and  necessi- 
tous, dealing  considerately  not  only  with  the  poor  in  all 
their  interests,  but  with  the  slaves  ;  and  were  eminently 
humane  toward  the  stranger ;  such  being  the  spirit  of 
administration  throughout  the  best  years  of  the  Hebrew- 
commonwealth.  I  undertook  to  demonstrate  that  even 
with  their  culprits  and  in  administering  justice  there  was 
no  inhumanity  ;  that  while  other  nations  were  tormenting 
men   for    the  sake   of  tormenting  them,   such  cruelty  was 


MOSAIC  IXSTITUTES:    THE  HOUSEHOLD.  269 

never  known  to  the  old  Hebrews  ;  that  unnecessary  pain 
in  punishment  was  avoided  by  them  ;  that  their  whole 
economy  was  humane.  I  attempted  to  show  that  their 
humanity  went  still  further,  and  included  the  entire  ani- 
mal kingdom — bird  and  beast. 

This  whole  line  of  thought  might  be  diversified  and  in- 
tensified ;  but  let  us  pass  on,  to-night,  to  the  development 
of  other  elements,  and  of  those  that  are  perhaps  more  im- 
portant. 

I  propose  to  speak  of  the  condition  of  woman,  and  of 
the  condition  of  the  family  or  household,  as  they  existed 
under  the  ordinances  of  Moses,  and  as  to  a  large  extent 
they  have  existed  in  practical  life  until  this  day.  It  should 
be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  it  would  be  very  unfair  to 
.bring  to  bear  upon  this  matter  the  advanced  conditions 
and  notions  of  modern  society.  It  would  not  be  reason- 
able for  us  to  take  the  results  of  the  experimentation  of 
thousands  of  years  on  the  globe,  and  go  back  to  the  twi- 
light of  antiquity,  and  especially  to  Oriental  peoples,  and 
measure  their  economies  by  that  which  is  now  ascertained 
to  be  best.  This  would  be  as  unjust  as  it  would  be  to  take 
the  latest  astronomical  discoveries  and  methods  and  make 
them  the  criterion  for  judging  of  the  attainments  of  the 
earliest  astronomers  of  the  world.  We  are  to  remember 
that  the  Hebrews  were  an  early  nation,  and  we  are  not  to 
be  surprised  at  much  that  we  find  in  their  history.  The 
theory  of  inspiration  which  we  hold  does  not  oblige  us  to 
suppose  that  everything  which  is  recorded  in  the  Old 
Testament  sprang  directly  from  the  hand  of  God  ;  but  it 
does  require  us  to  suppose  that  there  was  a  supervising 
providence  by  which  the  nascent  human  race  was  step  by 
step  developed  through  childhood  and  onward.  There- 
fore you  shall  find  in  the  inspired  Word  records  of  legisla- 
tion in  antiquity  that  would  be  utterly  intolerable  as 
applied  to  our  day,  while  in  the  infancy  of  the  race,  if  they 
w-ere  not  permissible,  they  were  at  any  rate  to  a  degree 
excusable. 

I  need   not  say  to  you  that  outside  of  our  later  modern 


270  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

nations  the  condition  of  any  community  may  be  ascer- 
tained beyond  peradventure  by  tlie  condition  of  woman 
in  it.  There  never  has  been  a  nation,  nor  will  there  ever 
be  a  nation,  having  prolonged  prosperity  along  with  infe- 
rior women  ;  and  there  never  has  been  a  nation,  nor  will 
there  ever  be  a  nation,  without  a  wholesome,  strong,  and 
progressive  prosperity  along  with  honor  to  women. 
Therefore,  in  examining  critically  the  condition  of  any 
nation,  one  of  the  primary  questions  is,  "  What  has  been 
the  condition  of  its  women  ?  Were  they  slaves  ;  were  they 
creatures  of  amusement  ;  were  they  mere  servants  of  the 
kitchen  :  or,  were  they  honored  as  the  equals  of  men  ? "  We 
must  bear  in  mind  that  although  the  style  of  womanhood 
among  the  Jews  was  inferior  as  compared  with  woman- 
hood now,  yet  it  was,  as  compared  with  that  of  neighboring 
nations,  eminently  advanced.  The  Hebrews  only,  in  antiq- 
uity, so  far  as  I  recollect,  put  any  degree  of  honor  upon 
women.  But,  in  the  condition  of  a  nation's  women  you 
shall  find  the  unmistakable  traces  of  its  barbarism  or  civil- 
ization. 

The  primitive  law  undoubtedly  was  that  of  power. 
Men  worshiped  power.  It  was  the  august  power  of  na- 
ture that  suggested  to  them  deities.  Among  men  those 
were  the  heroes  who  had  power — the  Samsons  of  antiquit3\ 
A  Hercules  was  a  hero  in  the  olden  time.  Low,  muscular 
strength  was  first  in  favor,  but  afterwards  the  ability  to 
control  and  lead  men;  then  wealth  ;  and  then  pomp  and 
glory,  as  elements  of  power,  were  objects  of  admiration. 

From  the  beginning  woman,  as  weaker  than  man,  was 
disesteemed  ;  she  was  not  admired  ;  and  such  was  the 
course  of  human  thougiit  down  to  within  a  comparatively 
recent  period.  You  will  find,  therefore,  clear  indications 
of  this  in  the  primitive  condition  of  the  Hebrew  women. 

With  this  explanation,  I  shall  call  your  attention  to  the 
remarkable  superiority  of  womanhood  among  the  Hebrews 
as  com.pared  with  every  other  contemporaneous  people. 
In  the  first  place,  a  woman  in  her  father's  house  was  simply 
a   servant.     The  birth  of  a  daughter  in  antiquity  did   not 


'MOSAIC  INSTITUTES:    THE  HOUSEHOLD.  271 

bring  half  so  much  joy  as  the  birth  of  a  son.  As  a  child  a 
woman  was  salable.  The  father  could  send  his  daughter 
to  market  at  any  time  he  pleased.  At  that  early  time 
property  had  not,  to  use  a  modern  phraseology,  differen- 
tiated. Whatever  a  man  had  or  controlled  was  propert}'. 
It  was  at  a  comparatively  late  day  that  men  began  to  con- 
sider that  property  must  mean  t/ii/igs,  and  not  persons. 
In  ancient  times  property  meant  persons,  if  one  had  the 
control  of  persons  ;  and  in  the  Hebrew  economy  the 
daughter  was  the  father's  property  just  as  much  as  a  book 
or  an  invention  that  comes  from  my  brain  is  my  property  ; 
and  he  had  absolute  control  not  only  of  her  liberty  but  of 
her  life  as  well.  She  had  no  free  choice  as  to  matrimony. 
Her  father  gave  her  away,  and  of  course  always  for  a  con- 
sideration. AVhen  the  father  w^as  dead  then  the  brother 
took  his  place  ;  and  in  either  case  she  had  no  volition  of  her 
own.  She  inherited  nothing  by  law  except  where,  from  lack 
of  male  inheritors,  the  estate  was  likely  to  go  out  of  the  fam- 
ily. In  that  case  she  was  a  "  Jack-at-a-pinch  "  heir.  Such 
things  mark  the  genius  of  an  age.  An  espoused  virgin  if 
derelict  in  chastity  was  put  to  death  ;  but  her  seducer 
was  exonerated.  He  was  a  man,  and  she  was  nothing  but 
a  woman  !  The  same  thing  has  come  down  to  us.  The 
fault  of  the  woman  is  unpardoned  and  unpardonable,  but 
the  fault  of  the  man  is  condoned  by  society  ;  and  he  walks 
among  men  and  women  with  unblushing  cheek,  while  she 
walks  no  more  among  men  or  women.  Under  Moses,  how- 
ever, if  the  woman  were  a  wife,  then  both  man  and  woman 
were  put  to  death. 

When  married — and  here  the  light  begins  to  dawn — the 
Hebrew  woman  w^s  never  made  the  slave  of  bondage  or 
toil.  She  was  not  put  to  severe  tasks,  as  the  squaw  is,  or 
as  many  Oriental  woman  were.  Among  the  Hebrews  the 
hardest  industry  was  always  imposed  upon  men.  The 
woman  was  a  housekeeper,  and  did  the  things  that  were  to 
be  done  within  the  house,  not  being  a  field  laborer.  She 
was  admitted  to  the  society  of  men.  She  was  not  veiled. 
She  did  not  need  to  be  ashamed  of   her  face.      She  ate 


272  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

with  her  husband — a  thing  which  the  Greek  wife  was  not 
allowed  to  do  in  any  well-regulated  family.  It  would 
have  been  considered  a  breach  of  decorum  for  a  Greek 
woman  to  sit  at  table  with  her  husband  if  he  chose 
to  deny  her  the  privilege, — for  then,  as  now,  men  were 
more  sensitive  on  some  points  of  etiquette  than  concern- 
ing actual  morality.  But  the  Hebrew  woman  was  not  her 
husband's  slave;  she  was  his  companion.  She  sat  with 
him  and  communed  with  him.  She  took  part  with  him  in 
all  public  services.  When  he  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  at- 
tend the  great  annual  service  she  went  with  him.  She 
could  not  offer  sacrifice  as  he  could,  but  to  her  was  per- 
mitted the  sacred  song  and  the  sacred  dance.  She  took 
part  generally  in  the  religious  observances  of  her  people. 

More  than  that,  there  is  this  remarkable  peculiarity  of 
the  Hebrew  nation,  that  from  the  earliest  day  they  never 
stood  in  the  way  of  extraordinary  genius  in  man  or  in 
woman.  They  made  no  distinction  of  sex  in  that  regard. 
If  Miriam  could  sing  and  rejoice,  Miriam  was  permitted 
to  sing  and  rejoice  :  there  was  no  public  sentiment  or  prej- 
udice that  rendered  her  obnoxious.  If  Deborah  had  the 
gifts  of  a  leader  and  judge,  there  was  no  objection  raised 
to  her  exercising  those  gifts.  Huldah,  the  prophetess,  in 
times  of  uncertainty  and  apprehension,  was  sent  for,  be- 
cause it  was  thought  that  better  wisdom  could  be  obtained 
from  this  venerable  woman  than  from  men.  And  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  Hebrew  economy,  if  a  woman 
was  a  poet,  an  orator,  a  prophet, — anything  that  would  be 
considered  honorable  in  a  man, — she  was  at  liberty  to  de- 
velop it.  But  it  was  only  among  the  Hebrews,  except  in 
royal  families,  or  in  the  families  of  the  nobility,  that  women 
received  such  consideration. 

Therefore,  in  reading  the  Scriptures  both  of  the  Old  and 
the  New  Testaments,  unless  your  attention  has  been  called 
to  the  matter  in  detail,  you  will  scarcely  think  of  women 
in  conditions  other  than  those  in  which  they  exist  among 
us.  Samuel's  mother,  Elizabeth,  Mary,  and  Martha,  the 
women   who   accompanied   Christ — to  whom  he  looked  a 


MOSAIC  INSTITUTES:     THE  HOUSEHOLD.  273 

portion  of  the  time  for  his  support,  and  who  afterwards 
consorted  with  the  apostles,  and  were  organic  parts  of  the 
primitive  church — women  such  as  these  were  honored  in 
the  old  Hebrew  commonwealth. 

But  there  was  one  vice  which  existed  among  the  He- 
brews. The  origin  of  it  is  obscure.  It  was  conspicuous, 
because  it  stood  in  such  contrast  with  the  many  virtues  of 
that  nation.  Polygamy  was  permitted  among  them.  We 
learn  in  Genesis  that  monogamy  was  an  ordinance  of  God  ; 
and  yet  when  we  come  down  in  the  history  of  the  Hebrews 
we  find  that  the  great  patriarchs  were  exceptions,  and  that 
in  the  time  of  Moses  not  only  did  polygamy  exist,  but  ordi- 
nances were  enacted  which  took  it  for  granted  that  it  was 
permitted  by  Moses.  To  those  who  hold  to  the  doctrine 
of  verbal  and  absolute  inspiration  here  is  a  predicament  ; 
for  if  you  insist  that  Moses  enacted  every  single  one  of  his 
ordinances  because  God  commanded  him  to  do  it,  you  are 
obliged  to  take  the  ground  that  God  ordained  pol3^gamy, 
since  Moses  recognizes  it.  He  never  once  directly  or  indi- 
rectly forbids  it. 

We  are  not  to  suppose  that  there  was  no  secular  reason 
for  this.  At  that  time,  when  property  in  men  was  not  dis- 
tinguished from  property  in  matter,  men  owned  their 
wives  and  made  them  servants  ;  and  there  was  thus  a 
property  temptation  for  a  man  to  own  his  cook,  his  cham- 
bermaid, all  those  who  served  him.  The  prevailing  econ- 
omy was  such  as  to  lead  a  man  to  wish  to  control  and 
multiply  his  industrial  forces. 

This  vice  was  permitted,  I  suppose,  for  another  reason. 
The  peculiar  attraction  of  idolatry  in  the  Pagan  nations 
was  not  the  polytheistic  idea,  but  the  element  of  sanctified 
lust.  There  was  no  one  idolatrous  service  known  to  an- 
tiquity in  which  physical  lusts  and  appetites  did  not  play 
an  important  part  ;  and  it  was  this  fact  that  drew  the 
Israelites  to  the  right  and  to  the  left  continually.  A 
multiplication  of  wives  was  an  evil,  and  one  that  loudly 
called  for  restriction  ;  yet  it  may  be  supposed  that  the 
o-reat  lawgiver  tolerated  it  under  certain  limitations,  with 


274  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

the  idea  that  there  was  in  it  that  which  would  keep  the 
people  from  worse  defections.  Universal  experience  has 
determined  that  polygamy  is  a  wrong,  not  to  woman  alone, 
but  to  her  children  ;  nor  to  them  alone,  but  to  the  husband  ; 
nor  to  him  alone,  but  to  the  whole  household  estate  ;  nor 
to  it  alone,  but  to  the  entire  nation.  There  never  was  a 
people  since  the  world  began  that  could  maintain  existence 
without  a  fatal  weakness,  where  polygamy  was  in  the  house- 
hold. Never  was  there  a  nation  that  was  able  to  sustain 
itself  against  adversity  without  being  monogamous  —  and 
there  never  will  be  one.  Yet,  for  the  Hebrews  it  was  far 
better  than  to  be  running  after  the  pagan  gods  and  their 
obscene  rites,  as  they  were  so  often  seduced  into  doing. 

Strangely,  in  the  midst  of  this  great  civilized  nation  of 
ours,  that  boasts  of  its  Christianity,  there  has  broken  out 
this  system,  organized  and  enforced  ;  and  the  power  of 
Christianity  has  not  thus  far  been  able  to  cope  with  it  ;  nor 
is  there  any  prospect  that  it  will  be  able  to  cope  with  it. 
Happily,  Utah  does  not  vote  on  national  questions,  and 
therefore  it  may  be  that  politicians  will  legislate  so  as  to 
insure  a' final  extinguishment  of  this  terrible  mischief  in 
our  midst.  If  Utah  were  a  State  the  evil  would  not  be 
overthrown,  because  votes  are  the  gods  of  our  representa- 
tives at  Washington  ;  but  she  is  not,  and  her  polygamy 
will  die  under  the  pressure  of  surrounding  education,  thrift, 
and  industrial  and  commercial  activity. 

The  life  of  the  children  among  the  Hebrews,  according 
to  the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  Mosaic  economy,  was  very 
precious.  The  murder  of  children,  whether  it  was  ante- 
natal, or  whether  it  was  by  their  exposure  after  birth,  was 
punishable  by  death.  The  destruction  of  children's  lives 
in  all  nations  around  about  was  very  widespread,  such  was 
the  barbarous  condition  of  things  in  those  times.  But 
nothing  of  that  kind  was  allowed  for  a  moment  under  the 
economy  of  Moses.  Tf  a  woman  destroyed  her  coming 
child,  she  was,  under  the  Mosaic  law,  a  murderer  with 
deeper  guilt  than  if  she  slew  a  child  that  was  actually 
born.     It  would  be  well  if  the  humanity  toward  childhood 


MOSAIC  INSTITUTES:    THE  HOUSEHOLD.  275 

of  that  economy  could  be  made  imperative  in  modern 
times.  Talk  of  the  slaughter  of  the  innocents  by  Herod  ! 
In  these  cities  innocents  are  slaughtered  by  hundreds  and 
thousands  ; — and  it  is  not  accounted  an  unvirtuous  thing. 

When  you  look  at  the  economy  of  the  family  among  the 
Hebrews,  at  every  step  the  light  grows  brighter,  and  the 
picture  is  more  beautiful.  Around  about  the  household 
were  statutes  the  most  rigorous.  Infidelity  to  the  marriage 
relation  on  the  part  of  a  man  was  punishable  with  death. 
Divorces  were  facile,  but  not  on  the  part  of  women.  No 
woman  could  bring  a  petition  of  divorce  from  her  husband, 
but  a  man  could  get  a  divorce  from  his  wife.  Yet  this  did 
not  take  place  largely  in  the  earlier  times.  It  developed  to 
a  greater  extent  in  the  later  and  more  luxurious  days.  At 
the  time  of  Christ,  although  polygamy  had  gone  very 
much  out  of  existence,  it  existed  among  the  rich,  and  a 
man  could  obtain  a  divorce  pretty  much  at  his  own  option. 
And  he  found  reason  enough.  If  his  wife  was  a  little  old, 
if  she  was  troublesome  on  account  of  sickness,  or  if  for  any 
other  reason  she  did  not  please  him,  he  could  put  her 
away,  and  if  she  was  innocent  of  any  impropriety  he  could 
give  her  an  honorable  dismissal. 

Now,  when  Christ  forbade  divorce,  the  whole  spirit  and 
temper  of  his  command  on  that  subject  was  to  right  the 
condition  of  woman,  to  make  her  marital  relations  perma- 
nent, and  not  dependent  on  the  mere  whim  and  caprice  of 
her  husband. 

The  condition  of  the  family  is  a  matter  with  which 
the  statutes  of  Moses  are  never  done  with  dealing.  You 
are  to  bear  in  mind  that  in  antiquity  there  were  no 
such  schools  as  we  have  ;  that  there  was  no  provision  for 
universal  education  ;  that  there  were  no  books  for  the 
young  ;  that  knowledge  had  not  been  developed  except  in 
very  limited  spheres.  And  yet  there  was  the  greatest  pains 
taken  to  educate  tlie  children.  Let  me  read  you  one  or 
two  passages  ;  as,  for  instance,  in  Deuteronomy,  the  sixth 
chapter  and  the  sixth  verse,  where  the  education  of  chil- 
dren is  insisted  upon  : — 


276  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

"And  these  words,  which  I  command  thee  this  day,  shall  be  in  thine 
heart:  and  thou  shalt  teach  them  diligently  unto  thy  children,  and  shalt 
talk  of  them  when  thou  sittest  in  thine  house,  and  when  thou  walkest  by 
the  way,  and  when  thou  liest  down,  and  when  thou  risest  up.  And  thou 
shalt  bind  them  for  a  sign  upon  thine  hand,  and  they  shall  be  as  frontlets 
between  thine  eyes.  And  thou  shalt  write  them  upon  the  posts  of  thy 
house,  and  on  thy  gates.  And  it  shall  be,  when  Jehovah  thy  God  shall 
have  brought  thee  into  the  land  which  he  sware  unto  thy  fathers,  to  Abra- 
ham, to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  to  give  thee  great  and  goodly  cities,  which  thou 
buildedst  not,  and  houses  full  of  all  good  things,  which  thou  filledst  not, 
and  wells  digged,  which  thou  diggedst  not,  vineyards  and  olive  trees,  which 
thou  plantedst  not ;  when  thou  shalt  have  eaten  and  be  full  ;  then  beware 
lest  thou  forget  Jehovah,  which  brought  thee  forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
from  the  house  of  bondage." 

This  was  the  height  of  teaching.  Ever}^  house  was  a 
schoolhouse.  Father  and  mother  were  school-teachei-s. 
And  they  were  to  teach,  not  once  in  a  while,  on  the  Sab- 
bath, or  at  the  great  festivals,  but  incessant!}'.  The  teach- 
ing was  to  be  the  household  conversation.  It  was  to  be 
the  talk  in  the  field,  as  the  parents  and  the  children  walked 
together.  It  was  to  be  their  familiar  discourse  wherever 
they  were  in  the  ways  of  living.  The  parents  were  to  be 
constantly  storing  the  minds  of -their  children  with  knowl- 
edge. 

Knowledge  of  what?  First,  of  the  whole  national  his- 
tory— of  all  matters  that  belonged  to  the  State,  and  then 
of  the  statutes  and  ordinances  of  God  that  belonged  to 
property,  and  neighborhood,  and  service,  with  this  grand 
text  which  evermore  shone  as  the  very  fountain  of  all  duty, 
Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  honor  Him,  and  thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. 

The  whole  scope  of  political  economy  or  civility,  as  far 
as  known  among  them,  was  taught  to  their  children  by  the 
Hebrews.  The  whole  science  of  life,  so  far  as  it  was 
known  among  them — this,  the  Mosaic  law  said,  they  were 
to  teach  rising  up  and  sitting  down,  perpetually.  And 
they  did  it. 

Labor  was  enjoined  and  made  honorable.  One  of  the 
proverbs  of  the  old  Jews  was,  ''Whoever  brings  up  a  child 
without  a  trade  brings  him   up  to  steal."     However  high 


MOSAIC  IXSTITUTES:    THE  HOUSEHOLD.  277 

a  family  was  in  social  position,  it  was  the  habit  of  the  Jews 
to  teach  every  boy  a  trade,  as  he  might  see  the  day  when 
it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  labor  with  his  hands.  It 
was  wisdom  in  them  to  bring  up  their  children  to  industry, 
and  see  that  they  had  training  such  that  if  worse  came  to 
worst  they  would  have  a  calling  by  which  they  could  earn 
their  bread.  It  was  sought  to  give  every  man  the  capacity 
to  take  care  of  himself,  so  that  there  should  be  no  poor 
people  in  the  land.  So  successfully  was  this  policy  carried 
out  that  it  has  been  said  that  the  word  beggar  does  not 
exist  in  the  Hebrew  tongue.  Hear  that,  Ireland  !  Hear 
that,  Italy  !  And  all  this  sprang,  not  from  climate  or  con- 
dition, but  from  the  application  of  the  Mosaic  economy  to 
the  education  of  the  people. 

Moreover,  the  children  were  not  brought  up  to  follow 
simply  what  seemed  good  in  their  own  sight  :  they  were 
brought  up  to  courtesy,  to  obedience,  to  reverence,  to  in- 
dustry, and  to  morality.  And  the  parent  held  no  slender 
rod  in  such  a  matter  as  that.  In  the  twenty-first  chapter 
of  Exodus,  the  fifteenth  and  seventeenth  verses,  you  will 
find  the  following  : — 

"  He  that  smiteth  his  father,  or  his  mother,  shall  surely  be  put  to  death." 
"  He  that  curseth  his  father,  or  his  mother,  shall  surely  be  put  to  death." 

Veneration  for  parents  is  made  obligatory.  ''  Honor  thy 
father  and  thy  mother,  that  thy  days  may  be  long  in  the 
land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee,"  was  sounded 
in  the  ears  of  children  from  the  earliest  moment  ;  and  the 
violation  of  that  command  brought  death.- 

Still  more  imperatively  is  it  laid  down  in  the  twenty-first 
chapter  of  Deuteronomy,  from  the  eighteenth  verse  on- 
ward : — 

"  If  a  man  have  a  stubborn  and  rebellious  son,  which  will  not  obey  the 
voice  of  his  father,  or  the  voice  of  his  mother,  and  that,  when  they  have 
chastened  him,  will  not  hearken  unto  them:  then  shall  his  father  and  his 
mother  lay  hold  on  him,  and  bring  him  out  unto  the  elders  of  his  city,  and 
unto  the  gate  of  his  place  ;  and  they  shall  say  unto  the  elders  of  his  city, 
This  our  son  is  stubborn  and  rebellious,  he  will  not  obey  our  voice  ;  he  is 
a  glutton  and  a  drunkard.  And  all  the  men  of  his  city  shall  stone  him  with 
stones,  that  he  die  :  so  shalt  thou  put  evil  away  from  among  you ;  and  all 
Israel  shall  hear,  and  fear." 


2-8  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

Need  I  tell  you  that  the  Jews,  being  brought  up  in  the 
liousehold  on  that  pattern,  very  soon  became  a  thorough- 
bred people  ?  The  family  was  their  special  glory.  Upon 
it  was  concentrated  all  their  institutions  and  economy.  It 
was  the  fountain  of  fountains.  It  was  the  institution  that 
bred  institutions.  It  was  that  toward  which  the  natural 
affections,  the  educated  understanding,  and  the  statutory 
arrangements  of  the  Mosaic  economy,  chiefly  tended. 

If  you  ask  me.  How  is  it  that  this  people  are  set  upon, 
dispersed,  abused,  persecuted,  and  made  recipients  of  more 
injustice  than  ever  fell  upon  the  heads  of  any  other  people, 
and  that  yet  they  cling  together,  and  maintain  their  nation- 
ality, and  endure,  and  overcome,  and  exert  such  a  power 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth  ?  I  reply  that  it  is  because 
of  the  Mosaic  economy  in  which  they  have  been  educated, 
and  which  has  continued  the  family  relations  which  it  in- 
stituted. By  that  economy  they  have  been  brought  from 
barbarism  to  civilization  ;  and  their  strength  to-day — in 
addition  to  w4iat  they  have  gained  in  common  with  other 
civilized  nations — is  what  it  always  has  been  in  Mosaism. 
That  people  which  consists  of  groups  of  households,  in 
which  the  children  are  developed  into  the  highest  forms 
of  manhood,  is  indestructible  ;  it  will  never  be  caught  in 
a  storm  so  severe  that  it  will  founder  ;  and  such  a  people 
are  the  Jews. 

Contrast,  for  one  moment,  the  condition  of  woman — the 
wife  and  the  mother — in  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  with 
the  condition  of  woman  in  contemporaneous  neighboring 
nations,  as,  for  instance,  the  Greek.  In  Greece  not  only 
was  woman  a  slave,  a  w^orking  creature,  but  she  was  de- 
barred from  the  privilege  of  public  service.  She  was  not 
permitted  to  sit  at  table  with  her  lord  and  master  ;  she 
w'as  not  allowed  even  to  go  to  the  door  to  see  what  was 
taking  place  in  the  street,  unless  she  was  densely  veiled  ; 
moreover,  she  must  be  veiled  or  she  could  not  sit  in  an 
assembly  ;  she  had  no  part  or  lot  in  the  administration  of 
public  affairs  ;  and  she  was  denied  the  enjoyment  of  knowl- 
edofe.     I  do  not  mean  that  her  education  was  neoflected. 


MOSAIC  IXSTITUTES:    THE  HOUSEHOLD.  27c) 

and  that  she  must  grow  up  ignorant  :  but  there  was  a 
state  of  public  sentiment  in  Greece  such  that  if  a  woman 
showed  evidence  of  relinement  and  education  it  was  taken 
for  granted  that  she  had  lost  her  purity.  The  whole  Greek 
mind  and  conscience  had  come  to  associate  ignorance  with 
virtue  and  intelligence  with  vice,  so  that  one  was  the  sign 
of  the  other.  There  were  among  the  women  of  Greece  a 
class  who  were  educated.  They  were  taught  in  history, 
in  philosophy,  in  music,  in  art,  and  in  statesmanship.  They 
were  educated  as  far  as  the  then  knowledge  of  the  world 
was  capable  of  being  carried.  There  were  no  men  in 
Greece  that  were  more  highly  endowed  with  knowledge 
than  many  Greek  women.  But  who  were  they?  Women 
who  devoted  themselves  to  the  pleasure  of  wealthy  and 
cultivated  men,  and  who  wished  to  make  themselves  attract- 
ive. If  a  woman  meant  to  be  a  professional  harlot,  no 
pains  was  spared  in  educating  her ;  but  if  a  woman  meant 
to  be  a  mother,  respected  and  honored,  she  must  not  be 
educated,  because  an  educated  woman  and  a  harlot  had 
come  to  be  identical  in  the  Greek  mind.  That  is  the  rea- 
son why  the  Apostle  Paul  says  to  the  Corinthians,  "  Let 
your  women  keep  silence  in  the  churches."  It  was  feared 
that  if  they  spoke  in  tlie  churches  it  would  be  said,  ''They 
are  impure  persons,  and  the  churches  encourage  licentious- 
ness." Such  was  the  condition  of  things  in  Greece  at  that 
time. 

It  has  been  remarked  in  regard  to  the  Greeks  that,  in 
spite  of  their  wonderful  genius  and  acquirements  in  all 
intellectual  and  esthetic  directions,  they  had  not  enough 
conscience  to  frame  a  constitution  that  would  endure,  or  to 
maintain  an  administration  of  public  affairs,  and  that  they 
were  so  corrupt  that  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  could  have 
gone  to  school  to  them  and  learned  of  them  in  the  lore  of 
corruption. 

But  the  Hebrew  nation  were  of  a  very  different  type. 
In  spite  of  their  passionate  nature  and  their  lapses  under 
the  allurements  of  surrounding  vicious  nations,  under  the 
Mosaic  economy  they  vrere  trained   to  a  general  character 


28o  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

of  purity  and  moral  uprightness.  They  established  and 
maintained  the  family  ;  they  honored  womanhood  ;  and 
they  educated  their  children  in  obedience  and   love. 

So,  then,  let  me  say  in  closing,  that  we  are  indebted  to 
the  Hebrews  for  the  very  roots  of  our  best  institutions, 
and  among  others  for  the  family,  out  of  which  comes  all 
the  sweetness  of  life.  We  are  indebted  to  the  Hebrew 
polity,  more  than  to  anything  else  in  antiquity,  for  the 
position  of  woman  in  our- da}'. 

And  let  me  say  another  thing  :  no  genuine  religious  idea 
is  without  value.  While  the  Roman  adoration  of  the  Vir- 
gin Mary  is  distasteful  to  our  Protestant  minds,  we  are  in- 
debted for  the  chivalry  and  heroism  with  which  we  look 
upon  womanhood  largely  to  that  idea  of  transcendent 
purity  and  beauty  handed  down  through  the  growing  ages. 
I  have,  in  almost  ever}^  room  in  my  house,  from  the  hands 
of  one  artist  or  another,  an  engraving  of  the  Madonna  and 
child.  To  the  devout  eye  of  the  Catholic  it  means  the 
Mother  of  God j  to  me  it  means  mother.  To  them  the  babe 
means  the  Son  of  God j  to  me  it  means  childhood.  I  look 
upon  the  mother  and  child,  and  bless  God  that  that  idea, 
begotten  in  old  Hebrew  times,  at  last  ripened  and  came 
down  through  the  medieval  ages  to  our  day,  and  shines 
out  from  so  many  canvases  for  the  elevation  of  our  ideal 
of  home,  for  the  gratification  of  our  purest  imagination 
and  our  esthetic  taste,  and  brightens  by  its  influence  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand  households.  All  this  we  owe 
to  Mosaic  institutions. 

Let  UK  not,  therefore,  say  that  the  Old  Testament  has 
served  its  purpose ;  that  we  have  got  through  with  it  ; 
that  the  New  Testament  is  sufficient  for  us.  There  is  treas- 
ure in  the  Old  Testament,  for  us,  if  we  know  where  to  look 
for  it. 


XV. 

MOSAIC  INSTITUTES: 

SOCIAL    OBSERVANCE, 


"  Ye  shall  therefore  keep  all  my  statutes,  and  all  my  judgments,  and  do 
them  :  that  the  land,  whither  I  bring  you  to  dwell  therein,  spew  you  not  out. 
And  ye  shall  not  walk  in  the  manners  of  the  nation  which  I  cast  out  before 
you  :  for  they  committed  all  these  things,  and  therefore  I  abhorred  them. 
But  I  have  said  unto  you,  Ye  shall  inherit  their  land,  and  I  will  give  it  unto 
you  to  possess  it,  a  land  thatfloweth  with  milk  and  honey  :  I  am  the  Lord 
your  God,  which  have  separated  you  from  other  peoples.  Ye  shall  there- 
fore put  difference  between  clean  beasts  and  unclean,  and  between  unclean 
fowls  and  clean :  and  ye  shall  not  make  your  souls  abominable  by  beast,  or 
by  fowl,  or  by  any  manner  of  living  thing  that  creepeth  on  the  ground,  which 
I  have  separated  from  you  as  unclean.  And  ye  shall  be  holy  unto  me :  for 
I  the  Lord  am  holy,  and  have  severed  you  from  other  peoples,  that  ye  should 
be  mine." — Lev.  xx.  22-26. 


There  have  been  but  two  great  original  nations  that 
have  had  universal  power  upon  the  manhood  of  mankind — 
the  Hebrew  and  the  Greek. 

To  the  end  of  the  world  the  Greeks  will  be  masters  of  the 
intellectual  elements  and  stimulators  of  universal  thought 
in  its  relations  to  abstract  philosophy  and  to  the  elements 
of  beauty.  Further  than  this  they  did  not  go.  They  were 
empty  and  void  and  bankrupt  of  all  true  religion  and  all 
morality.  They  w'ere  a  people  immoral,  indecent,  rotten 
to  the  very  core  and  backbone,  and  in  time  they  were  dis- 
solved in  their  own  bestialities  ;  but  intellectually  they  were 
the  schoolmasters  of  the  ages. 

The  Hebrew  people,  though  not  deficient  in  understand- 


Sunday  evening,  February  23,  1879.     Lesson  :  Psa.  cxxxix. 


282  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

ing  and  in  wisdom,  had  their  power  on  the  moral  element 
of  man,  and  they  have  disclosed  a  longing  for  the  higher 
life, — an  earnest  conscience  burdened  and  grieved  at  sin- 
fulness, and  a  yearning  for  an  apprehension  of  true  right- 
eousness, that  has  not  been  equaled,  and  that  has  made 
them  masters  of  the  soul.  From  the  days  of  the  fathers  to 
the  end  of  time  the  Hebrew  spirit  will  be,  as  it  were,  the 
priest  and  the  religious  teacher  of  the  universal  conscience 
and  the  universal  heart.  The  Roman  people  were  legis- 
lators and  administrators  ;  other  nations  have  been  great 
organizers  :  but  the  world  has  never  felt  the  power  either 
of  their  philosophical  reason  or  of  their  conscience  as  it 
has  felt  the  power  of  the  Greeks  and  the  Hebrews. 

Every  man  admits  that,  not  excluding  the  understanding, 
the  moral  element  in  man  is  transcendenth'  the  greatest  ; 
and  the  Hebrew  people  were  pre-eminently,  I  will  not  say 
the  authors  of  morality,  but  the  expounders  of  it,  as  it 
stands  in  their  nature  and  their  history.  As  they  were,  so 
to  speak,  the  priests,  it  is  a  matter  of  vital  importance  to 
know  something  of  their  origin  and  of  the  institutions  to 
which  they  w^ere  trained.  What  if  they  w^ere  crude,  what 
if  they  were  secular,  what  if  they  were  not  up  to  the  stand- 
ard of  the  present  age  in  civilization  ;  they  yet  should  have 
a  profound  interest  to  every  man  who  spiritually  comes 
from  Abraham.  We  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  New 
Testament  is  an  outburst  of  blossoms  and  new  leaves  from 
solid  wood  of  the  Old  Testament  ;  and  we  ought  never  to 
forget  that  He  whom  we  worship  above  all  others  was  a 
Jew,  trained  in  all  the  lore  of  the  Old  Testament.  There 
is  not  a  line  whicli  we  trace  on  which  his  eye  has  not  lin- 
gered. Not  only  the  Prophecies  with  their  thunders,  and 
the  Psalms  w^ith  their  sweet  influences,  and  the  Histories 
with  their  instructions,  but  the  institutions,  as  well,  of  the 
old  Hebrews,  were  the  subject-matter  of  Christ's  education 
in  his  childhood  and  in  his  manhood  ;  and  are  all  these 
things  to  be  disengaged  and  set  afloat  and  lost  to  us  ?  It 
is  squandering  treasure  to  set  aside  the  Old  Testament. 

And  yet,  apart  from  its  antiquity,  it  has  been  a  matter  of 


MOSAIC  INSTITUTES:   SOCIAL  OBSERVANCE.         283 

severest  criticism,  and  justly,  if  you  are  to  accept  the  old 
theory  of  inspiration,  as  if  everything  that  was  recorded 
was  mandatory,  and  proceeded  from  the  direct  will  of 
God.  The  Old  Testament  cannot,  if  it  be  put  on  that 
ground,  justify  the  enormous  slaughters  or  hideous  cruel- 
ties which,  in  any  age,  cannot  be  justified  according  to  the 
moral  sense  in  which  we  are  educated  by  the  New  Testa- 
ment. 

But,  aside  from  that,  we  are  to  regard  the  books  of  the 
Old  Testament  as  recording  the  best  account  of  those  an- 
cient times,  given  by  the  best  men,  under  such  influence 
as  they  were  capable  of  receiving  from  the  divine  afflatus, 
and  as  representing,  therefore,  an  honest  endeavor  to  show 
the  highest  truth  as  well  as  it  could  be  shown  at  that  time, 
when  the  human  soul,  the  channel  of  its  transmission,  was 
not  redeemed  from  external  and  incidental  liabilities  to 
error— as,  indeed,  it  is  not  altogether,  even  yet  !  While  on 
this  particular  ground  we  can  defy  scofling  criticism  and 
misjudgment,  we  are  also  able  even  more  eftectually  to 
resist  those  minor  strictures  which  are  directed  toward  a 
great  deal  of  the  Mosaic  economy.  The  statutes  have 
been  subjected,  in  detail,  to  criticism  and  ridicule,  as  being 
puerile  and  meaningless,  tending  to  produce  a  separation 
of  nations  from  neighboring  nations,  to  lead  to  dissensions 
between  brethren,  and  to^  create  a  narrow  superstition, 
instead  of  a  generous  religion  founded  upon  the  nature  of 
things. 

Now,  in  order  to  judge  of  any  institution  wisely  it  is 
always  necessary,  first,  to  consider  whether  the  end  sought 
by  that  institution  is  a  worthy  end,  and,  second,  to  examine 
whether  the  means  used  for  accomplishing  this  are  well 
adapted  to  secure  it.  As  to  what  was  the  great  drift  of  the 
Mosaic  institutions  we  are  not  left  in  doubt.  It  was 
designed  to  build  up  "a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of  good 
works,"  above  all  the  other  peoples  that  lived  upon  the 
earth.  It  was  to  develop  a  nation  that,  in  its  whole  relig- 
ious, civil,  and  industrial  economy  should  represent  the 
utmost   purity,  equity,  activity,  and  prosperity.     The  end 


284  BIBLE  STCD/ES. 

was  certainly  noble.  Were  the  laws  and  institutions  wor- 
thy by  which  that  end  was  sought?  In  judging  both  of 
the  objects  aimed  at  and  of  the  means  by  which  it  is  at- 
tempted to  achieve  those  objects,  w^e  must  take  into  view, 
not  what  would  seem  wise  to  us,  in  our  circumstances,  at 
this  late  period  of  time  :  we  must  go  back  to  the  age  in 
which  the  events  under  consideration  occurred,  to  the  par- 
ticular races  concerned,  and  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
individuals  who  enacted  those  events. 

In  this  case,  here  was  a  rising  people.  They  w-ere  to 
become  a  settled  nation.  The  pastoral  life  to  which  they 
had  been  accustomed  was  to  be  changed  to  an  agricultural 
life.  With  the  establishing  of  a  hereditarily  pastoral  peo- 
ple as  an  agricultural  people  there  would  of  necessity  be 
some  things  that  seem  essentially  unwise.  It  could  not 
be  but  that  in  the  process  of  changing  a  wandering  tribe  to 
a  settled  people  there  would  be  more  or  less  imperfections. 
Commerce  springs  up  in  a  later  period.  Agriculture  can 
go  only  a  certain  way  alone.  It  must  be  followed  by  man- 
ufacturing. And  manufacturing  must  always  be  accom- 
panied by  commerce.  This  belongs  to  a  later  period  of 
development.  A  primitive  people,  savages,  must  become 
pastoral  ;  and  a  pastoral  people,  always  semi-civilized, 
must  become  agricultural  ;  and  the  agricultural  people 
must  become  manufacturing  and  commercial.  But  in  the 
beginning  it  w^ould  not  have  done  to  have  commerce  in- 
corporated into  the  Hebrew  economy.  If  they  had  gone  to 
Tyre  and  Sidon  they  would  have  been  swept  away  by  the 
corruptions  that  on  every  side  were  to  be  found  among 
those  commercial  people  of  the  Orient,  who  were  corrupt 
and  corrupting.  Therefore  the  Hebrews  must  be  held 
separate  while  in  training, 

A  people  of  low  moral  consciousness  were  to  be  educated 
to  morality.  A  sensuous  race,  subject  to  superstition  and 
idolatry,  were  to  be  brought  to  a  spiritual  worship  of 
the  one  God.  And  people  facile  to  all  temptations  of  the 
flesh  were  to  be  kept  away  from  the  miasm  of  licentious- 
ness. 


MOSAIC JiXSTITUTES :   SOCIAL  OBSEKIAA'CE.         285 

When,  therefore,  you  consider  the  customs  of  which  I  shall 
speak  to-night  very  briefly  and  cursorily,  you  are  to  bear 
in  mind  that  they  were  substantially  such  as  we  yet  prac- 
tice toward  our  children  in  the  family  and  in  our  schools. 
We  hold  our  children  not  subject  to  a  direct  and  promis- 
cuous intercourse  with  the  world  while  yet  they  are  chil- 
dren. We  do  not  let  them  know  even  things  that  it  is 
proper  that  they  should  know  later.  We  treat  them  as 
children,  and  do  not  suffer  them  to  go  out  into  society 
until  they  are  equipped  with  habits  and  principles.  This 
approves  itself  as  wise  to  the  enlightened  judgment.  And 
it  was  important  that  the  Israelites  in  Palestine  should  be 
held  apart  from  all  damaging  intercourse  with  neighbor- 
ing nations  until  such  time  as  they  could  bear  the  world's 
intercourse. 

Idolatry,  as  it  prevailed  at  that  early  period,  was  not  half 
so  bad  in  its  theolog}^  as  in  its  license.  The  most  damnable 
element  in  the  systems  of  the  nations  of  antiquity  was 
their  licentiousness,  their  lust.  License  of  every  form  was 
wrought  into  a  ritual.  In  their  temples  were  prostitutes. 
The  temple  of  Venus  at  Corinth  maintained  a  thousand 
prostitutes  as  ministers  of  worship.  By  express  law  in  Bab- 
ylon all  women  were  subject  to  gross  indignities.  From 
the  East  were  introduced  into  Rome  ideas  which  led  to  out- 
rageous sensualism. 

So  when  you  note  the  nations  that  surrounded  the  Israel- 
ites, you  find  that  these  people  required  a  worship  founded 
not  only  on  intelligence,  but  on  out-reaching  virtue  and 
purity.  When,  therefore,  we  find  in  the  law  of  Moses,  as 
we  do,  an  enactment  that  no  father  should  make  a  harlot  of 
his  daughter,  we  open  our  eyes  with  astonishment  until  we 
come  to  reflect  that  it  was  a  principle  of  the  religion  of  all 
the  nations  around  about  the  Israelites  to  carry  their 
daughters  as  an  offering  to  their  gods  ;  that  a  prostitution 
of  them  was  an  act  of  dedication  to  actual  worship  ;  and 
that  this  ordinance  of  Moses  was  an  ordinance  of  purity 
for  the  cleansing  of  the  atmosphere  in  which  the  people 
lived. 


286  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

If  we  turn  to  Leviticus,  which  is  supposed  to  be  wholly 
a  book  of  ritualism,  but  which  is  full  of  other  elements  of 
profound  interest,  we  shall  find,  in  the  nineteenth  chapter, 
the  twenty-sixth  verse  and  onward,  certain  Mosaic  duties 
which  have  been  ridiculed  as  being  unworthy  of  the  divine 
inspiration — as  being  perhaps  permissible  to  superstitious 
and  degraded  priests,  but  inconsistent  with  anything  like 
authentic  divine  commandment.  The  idea  that  God  ever 
promulgated  such  duties  is  laughed  at  as  utterly  improb- 
able. 

"  Ye  shall  not  eat  anything  with  the  blood  :  neither  shall  ye  use  enchant- 
ment, nor  observe  times.  Ye  shall  not  round  the  corners  of  your  heads, 
neither  shalt  thou  mar  the  corners  of  thy  beard.  Ye  shall  not  make  any 
cuttings  in  your  flesh  for  the  dead,  nor  print  any  marks  upon  you:  I  am  Je- 
hovah. Do  not  prostitute  thy  daughter,  to  cause  her  to  be  a  harlot;  lest 
the  land  fall  to  whoredom,  and  the  land  become  full  of  wickedness.  Ye 
shall  keep  my  sabbaths,  and  reverence  my  sanctuary :  I  am  Jehovah.  Re- 
gard not  them  that  have  familiar  spirits,  neither  seek  after  wizards,  to  be 
defiled  by  them :  I  am  Jehovah  your  God.  Thou  shalt  rise  up  before  the 
hoary  head,  and  honor  the  face  of  the  old  man,  and  fear  thy  God :  I  am 
Jehovah." 

Let  US  look  a  little  at  this.  It  does  seem,  when  a  man  is 
told  that  the  Mosaic  institutes  contain  God's  inspired  laws, 
and  when  he  finds  in  them  the  precept  for  the  barbershop, 
"Ye  shall  not  round  the  corners  of  your  heads,  neither 
shalt-  thou  mar  the  corners  of  thy  beard,"  as  though  these 
were  matters  fit  for  ridicule.  It  would  seem  as  though  a 
divine  ordinance  requiring  a  man  to  trim  his  beard  or  cut 
his  hair  in  a  particular  way  was  rather  small,  to  say  the 
least.  Rut  there  is  great  and  remarkable  meaning  in  this 
ordinance.  Look  at  the  tonsure  of  the  Roman  priesthood. 
If  they  make  it  signify  the  crown  of  thorns  which  the  Mas- 
ter wore,  is  it  of  no  account  ?  When  you  understand  the 
thought  with  which  their  heads  are  shaven  as  they  are  it 
is  of  a  great  deal  of  account.  It  is  not  a  barber's  matter,  it 
is  a  matter  as  deep  as  the  soul,  under  such  circumstances. 

Is  our  flag,  that  floats  over  ship  or  fort,  of  no  account  ? 
When  it  rises,  every  morning,  before  our  eyes,  at  yonder 
fortification,  with  the  rising  sun,  and  goes  down  with  the 
sun  at  night,  is  it  merely  a  matter  of  bunting — red,  white, 


MOSAIC  IXSTIlT^l'ES:   SOCIAL  ODSERVAXCE.  2S7 

and  blue  ?  Does  it  mean  notliing  but  just  cloth  ?  It  means 
everything  that  there  is  in  the  national  heart  and  life.  It 
is  the  banner  that  stands  universally  for  all  that  pertains  to 
us  as  a  civilized  nation. 

Now,  in  heathen  nations  the  cutting  of  the  hair  and  beard 
was  indicative  of  the  religious  worship  of  the  wearer. 
Cutting  the  hair  in  a  given  way  was  supposed  to  imply 
adhesion  to  the  gods  of  the  foul  idolaters,  and  cutting  it 
in  a  certain  other  way  was  supposed  to  indicate  tidelity  to 
the  God  of  the  Hebrews.  When,  therefore,  Moses  said  to 
the  people  of  Israel,  "  Ye  shall  not  round  the  corners  of 
3^our  heads,  nor  mar  the  corners  of  thy  beard,"  it  was  a 
good  deal.  It  was  a  separation  between  them  and  the  cus- 
toms of  the  idolatrous  nations  around  about  them. 

Was  there  no  difference,  in  our  civil  war,  between  blue 
and  butternut  ?  To-day  a  man  can  wear  butternut  or  any 
other  color  he  pleases,  and  no  man  shall  call  him  to  ac- 
count for  it  ;  but  during  that  strife  it  meant  all  the  differ- 
ence between  friends  and  enemies — between  men  for  the 
Union  and  men  for  the  Confederacy.  It  indicated  a  sep- 
aration between  them  as  wide  as  thp  whole  economy  of 
society.  The  cropped  round-head  of  the  Puritan  and  flow- 
ing locks  of  the  Cavalier  will  occur  as  a  similar  badge  of 
distinction.  And  thus,  even  in  so  small  a  matter  as  a  lock 
of  hair,  there  may  be  conditions  in  which  shall  be  repre- 
sented separations  between  those  who  were  devoted  to  the 
pure  Jehovah  and  those  who  were  wedded  to  idolatr}'. 

Consider  also  some  other  elements. 

"  Ye  sliall  not  eat  anything  with  the  blood  :  neither  shall  ye  use  enchant- 
ment, nor  observe  times." 

It  was  not  that  they  were  not  to  observe  days  and  nights 
and  months  and  years  ;  that  was  universal  and  right  ;  but 
it  was  a  dissuasion  against  the  observance  of  what  are  called 
"signs," — auguries  such  as  are  observed  b}'  many  com- 
mon people  even  to-day  under  the  influence  of  superstition  ; 
and  how  wise  was  that  economy  which  led  Moses  to  forbid 
the  Israelites,  in  the  first  place,  to  go  to  wizards,  soothsay- 
ers, practicers  of  second-sight,  or  those  that  had  mediumistic 


288  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

powers  —  persons  that  professed  to  know  by  intuition 
what  was  happening  or  what  was  going  to  happen  to  men  ! 
From  the  beginning  of  the  race  down  to  the  present  day 
people  have  been  deluded  by  pretenders  like  these  ;  and  it 
is  more  or  less  the  case  in  our  time  that  necromancy,  witch- 
craft, the  mediumistic  art,  has  been  practiced  with  immoral 
effects.  Therefore,  in  the  economy  of  Moses,  which  was 
to  redeem  the  people  of  Israel,  and  bring  them  upon  the 
plane  of  reason,  this  was  a  very  wise  enactment,  though 
men  have  made  light  of  it  as  meddling  with  an  inconse- 
quent, insignificant  thing. 

"  Ye  shall  not  make  any  cuttings  in  your  flesh  for  the  dead,  nor  print  any 
m.\rks  upon  you  :  I  am  Jehovah." 

We  know  what  the  custom  was — especially  among  zealots, 
or  enthusiasts.  We  know  how  they  would  disfigure  them- 
selves. We  know  how  they  used  to  cut  their  bodies  with 
stones.  We  know  how  it  was  oftentimes  carried  to  perma- 
nent dismemberment.  And  the  enactment  of  Moses,  which 
required  men  to  regard  their  bodies  as  sacred,  and  not  to 
be  wantonly  disfigured  in  the  mummery  of  pagan  rites, 
was  very  humane,  though  it  has  been  subject  to  ridicule. 

"  Thou  shalt  rise  up  before  the  hoary  head,  and  honor  the  face  of  the 
old  man,  and  fear  thy  God." 

The  child  that  is  not  taught  to  reverence  his  parents  in 
the  family  will  not  reverence  the  magistrate  out  of  the 
family  ;  and  the  child  that  has  no  reverence  for  the  magis- 
trate will  never  reverence  God.  The  way  to  reverence  God 
is  to  practice  reverence  among  the  people  with  whom  we 
dwell.  The  way  to  worship  God  whom  we  have  not  seen 
is  to  show  consideration  toward  those  in  the  midst  of 
whom  we  move.  When  you  take  even  these  minute  com- 
mands, and  see  what  the  objects  of  them  were,  and  what 
the  prevailing  circumstances  were,  they  rise  from  insig- 
nificance and  triviality,  and  become  important  factors  of 
education.  All  these  and  many  other  things  carry  in  them 
the  fundamental  idea  which  Moses  sought  to  inculcate 
among  the  people  of  Israel — namely,  the  idea  of  separation 


MOSAIC  INSTITUTES:   SOCIAL  OBSERVANCE.         289 

from  the  heathen  peoples  about  them.  Again  and  again 
and  again  he  endeavored  to  impress  them  with  the  thought 
that  they  were  a  peculiar  people — a  people  separated  from 
the  world.  They  were  to  be  reminded  of  it  by  their  clothes, 
by  their  industry,  by  everything  that  went  on  in  the  house 
and  in  the  field,  as  well  as  in  the  worship  of  the  sanctuary. 
Look,  for  instance,  in  Deuteronomy,  the  twenty-second 
chapter,  at  the  commands  that  are  given  there  : — 

"The  woman  shall  not  wear  that  which  pertaineth  unto  a  man,  neither 
shall  a  man  put  on  a  woman's  garment :  for  all  that  do  so  are  abomination 
unto  Jehovah  thy  God." 

We  all  know  that  it  is  becoming  a  custom  of  every  nation 
that  men  and  women  shall  dress  differently,  not  only  for 
convenience,  but  because  it  promotes  morality.  There 
was  a  special  reason  for  this  in  Moses'  time,  because  in 
many  of  the  neighboring  nations  the  idolatrous  worship 
required  change  and  interchange  of  dress.  This  was  the 
case  in  the  later  Avorship  of  Bacchus,  and  some  of  the  most 
eminent  historical  characters  figured  in  it.  But  there  was 
something  else  ;  the  idea  of  national  separation  was  all  the 
time  carried  foward  in  that  matter,  also. 

"Thou  shalt  not  sow  thy  vineyard  with  divers  seeds  :  lest  the  fruit  of  thy 
seed  wdiich  thou  hast  sown,  and  the  fruit  of  thy  vineyard,  be  defiled.  Thou 
shalt  not  plow  with  an  ox  and  an  ass  together.  Thou  shalt  not  wear  a  gar- 
ment of  divers  sorts,  as  of  woolen  and  linen  together." 

Those  look  like  sumptuary  laws,  insignificant,  this  re- 
quiring of  separateness,  things  of  a  kind  being  kept  by 
themselves,  and  things  different  not  being  allowed  to  be 
promiscuously  mixed  ;  barley,  for  instance,  being  kept  with 
barley,  and  wheat  with  wheat,  contrary  to  the  practice  of 
modern  times,  when  a  farmer  mixes  various  kinds  of  grass 
and  other  seeds  in  the  sowing.  Among  the  Jews  there 
was  the  idea  that  seeds  must  be  kept  separate  one  from 
another,  as  they,  being  a  peculiar  people,  must  be  separated 
from  all  other  peoples.  They  were  not  allowed  to  twist 
together  woolen  and  linen  ;  not  because  it  was  cheaper, 
not  because  there  was  any  intrinsic  unfitness  in  their  being 
19 


290  BIBLE   STUDIES. 

united,  but  because  everything  must  be  held  to  its  original 
simplicity,  as  it  were,  to  signify  and  constantly  enforce 
the  separation  of  the  people  Israel. 

So  in  their  husbandry,  in  the  manufactures  of  the  loom, 
in  the  very  dresses  they  wore,  in  all  the  economy  of  life, 
there  were  these  silent  indications,  these  little  witnesses, 
saying  to  the  Israelites,  "  Ye  are  a  peculiar  people,  sepa- 
rated from  every  other.  Ye  are  not  Ammonites,  or  Amo- 
rites,  or  Jebusites,  or  Hivites  ;  ye  are  not  of  Egypt,  or 
Canaan,  or  Assyria,  or  Babylon  ;  ye  are  a  people  consecrated 
and  brought  up  of  God  to  be  a  peculiar  people,  that  in  you 
should  be  developed  a  righteousness  that  by  and  by  shall 
break  forth  as  a  sun,  and  shine  to  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth." 

Now, when  you  consider  what  a  crude  people  the  Hebrews 
were,  and  how  they  would  be  tempted  to  take  on  their  neigh- 
bors' manners  and  customs,  and  mix  with  other  nations, 
you  will  perceive  that  there  was  much  substantial  impor- 
tance attaching  to  these  signs  and  symbols,  though  to  us 
they  seem  very  insignificant  if  we  read  about  them  without 
recollecting  that  that  childish,  unformed  people  were  being 
developed  in  moral  sense,  and  that  they  were  being  so 
trained  that  they  should  be  made  sensitive  to  right  and 
wrong.  One  of  the  functions  of  the  Mosaic  economy  was 
to  unfold  the  conscience.  In  this  day,  by  force  of  long 
culture  in  Christian  households,  children  are  to  a  large 
extent  born  with  innate  tendencies  toward  right  and  away 
from  wrong ;  and  certainly  with  these  tendencies  it  is 
easier  to  lead  them  in  true  courses  than  would  otherwise 
be  the  case.  We  had  a  good  start  at  birth  ;  we  came  from 
a  thoroughbred  stock  :  but  the  question  is,  "How  shall 
men  who  began  low  down,  and  whose  appetites  are  ani- 
mal, be  led  to  be  heedful  and  aspiring  ?  How  shall  they 
be  taught  to  discriminate  between  right  and  wrong?  How 
shall  they  be  helped  to  fortify  themselves  against  the  evil 
influences  by  which  they  are  surrounded  ?  That  is  the 
profound  problem  which  Moses  endeavored  to  solve  ;  and 
the  peculiar  training  to  which  he  subjected  the  Jews  had  a 


MOSAIC  INSTITUTES:   SOCIAL  OBSERVANCE.         291 

constant  tendency  to  broaden  their  knowledge  of  right  and 
wrong,  of  purity  and  impurity. 

Turn  to  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Leviticus.  I  shall  not 
read  all  the  chapters  bearing  on  this  subject,  but  I  will 
take  from  the  eleventh  enough  to  give  an  insight  into  the 
economy  of  Moses. 

"  Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  saying,  These  are  the  beasts  which 
ye  shall  eat  among  all  the  beasts  that  are  on  the  earth.  Whatsoever  parteth 
the  hoof,  and  is  cloven-footed,  and  cheweth  the  cud,  among  the  beasts,  that 
shall  ye  eat.  Nevertheless,  these  shall  ye  not  eat  of  them  that  chew  the 
cud,  or  of  them  that  divide  the  hoof:  as  the  camel,  because  he  cheweth 
the  cud,  but  divideth  not  the  hoof ;  he  is  unclean  unto  you.  And  the  coney, 
because  he  cheweth  the  cud,  but  divideth  not  the  hoof ;  he  is  unclean  unto 
you.  And  the  hare,  because  he  cheweth  the  cud,  but  divideth  not  the  hoof; 
he  is  unclean  unto  you.  And  the  swine,  though  he  divide  the  hoof,  and  be 
cloven-footed,  yet  he  cheweth  not  the  cud ;  he  is  unclean  to  you.  Of  their 
flesh  shall  ye  not  eat,  and  their  carcass  shall  ye  not  touch  ;  they  are  unclean 
to  you. 

"  These  shall  ye  eat  of  all  that  are  in  the  waters  :  whatsoever  hath  fins  and 
scales  in  the  waters,  in  the  seas,  and  in  the  rivers,  them  shall  ye  eat.  And 
all  that  have  not  fins  and  scales  in  the  seas,  and  in  the  rivers,  of  all  that 
move  in  the  waters,  and  of  any  living  thing  which  is  in  the  waters,  they  shall 
be  an  abomination  unto  you  :  they  shall  be  even  an  abomination  unto  you ; 
ye  shall  not  eat  of  their  flesh,  but  ye  shall  have  their  carcasses  in  abomina- 
tion. Whatsoever  hath  no  fins  nor  scales  in  the  waters,  that  shall  be  an  abom- 
ination unto  you. 

"And  these  are  they  which  ye  shall  have  in  abomination  among  the  fowls; 
they  shall  not  be  eaten,  they  are  an  abomination  :  the  eagle,  and  the  ossi- 
frage,  and  the  ospray,  and  the  vulture,  and  the  kite  after  his  kind ;  every 
raven  after  his  kind;  and  the  owl,  and  the  night-hawk,  and  the  cuckoo,  and 
the  hawk  after  his  kind,  and  the  little  owl,  and  the  cormorant,  and  the  great 
owl,  and  the  swan,  and  the  pelican,  cind  the  gier  eagle,  and  the  stork,  the 
heron  after  her  kind,  and  the  lapwing,  and  the  bat.  All  fowls  that  creep, 
going  upon  all  four,  shall  be  an  abomination  unto  you. 

"  Yet  these  may  ye  eat  of  every  flying  creeping  thing  that  goeth  upon  all 
four,  which  have  legs  above  their  feet,  to  leap  withal  upon  the  earth;  even 
these  of  them  ye  may  eat ;  the  locust  after  his  kind,  and  the  bald  locust  after 
his  kind,  and  the  beetle  after  his  kind,  and  the  grasshopper  after  his  kind. 
But  all  other  flying  creeping  things,  which  have  four  feet,  shall  be  an 
abomination  unto  you.  And  for  these  ye  shall  be  unclean:  whosoever 
toucheth  the  carcass  of  them  shall  be  unclean  until  the  even.  And  whoso- 
ever beareth  aught  of  the  carcass  of  them  shall  wash  his  clothes,  and  be 
unclean  until  the  even." 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  matter  striking  in  the  economy 


292  BIBLE  STCDIES. 

of  Moses  that  the  health  of  the  people  was  looked  after. 
We  have  no  medical  treatise  that* is  more  minutely  careful 
in  regard  to  the  securing  of  ventilation  and  the  removal  of 
miasma  than  were  the  provisions  of  the  Mosaic  common- 
wealth. And  as  to  articles  clean  and  unclean,  although 
we  may  eat  some  that  were  proscribed  by  Moses,  in  the 
main  the  beasts  and  birds  that  he  prohibited  have  not 
been  eaten  by  civilized  men,  and  have  not  been  regarded 
as  wholesome  food.  Men  do  not  generally  care  to  eat  the 
horse  and  the  zebra.  Everywhere  men  eat  the  elk  and  the 
ox.  The  eating  of  swine's  flesh  was  forbidden  by  Moses. 
We  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  in  the  climate  in  which  the 
Israelites  dwelt  oily  meat  could  not  be  eaten  with  the  same 
impunity  that  it  can  in  colder  regions  ;  so  too  with  fish 
not  having  scales,  like  the  bull-pout  and  the  eel,  they  are 
oily  and  indigestible,  and,  like  the  forbidden  birds  of  prey, 
they  feed  upon  carrion.  Thus  there  was  a  reason  for  their 
not  eating  certain  kinds  of  food,  beyond  the  question  of 
ceremonial  cleanness  or  uncleanness. 

And  the  matter  of  uncleanness  was  sometimes  carried  to 
a  remarkable  degree.  If  a  dead  insect  fell  into  a  dish  for 
the  table,  that  dish  must  not  be  eaten,  just  as  with  us  if  a 
cockroach  gets  into  a  plate  of  food,  the  whole  has  to  go. 
In  our  modern  restaurants  they  would  take  out  the  cock- 
roach and  give  you  the  food.  I  prefer  to  board  with 
Moses.  According  to  the  Mosaic  prescription,  if  a  man 
bore  a  pitcher  of  water,  and  a  dead  insect  fell  into  it,  he 
must  break  the  pitcher  as  well  as  throw  away  the  water. 
This  was  no  hardship,  considering  the  sort  of  pitchers  they 
had  in  the  early  days.  It  might  seem  otherwise  in  our 
modern  times  of  exquisite  ceramic  ware.  In  those  days  a 
broken  pitcher  was  no  loss,  because  one  could  be  made  in 
ten  minutes. 

There  were  cases  in  which  the  law  against  handling  un- 
clean things  was  enforced  to  a  singular  extent.  If  a  man 
was  made  unclean  by  touching  a  dead  body,  anyone  that  he 
touched  was  unclean  ;  and  anyone  that  he  touched  was  also 
unclean  ;  and  so  on.     There  were  four  degrees  of  unclean- 


J/OSA/C  IXSriTUTES:    SOCIAL  OBSEKVAXCE.  293 

ness  by  successive  contacts.  Such  was  the  length  to  which 
the  Mosaic  system  carried  this  matter ;  but  it  was  all  in 
the  direction  of  compelling  carefulness  and  punishing  care- 
lessness, as  children  are  trained  at  school. 

I  will  not  go  further  in  this  direction  to-night.  I  do  not 
desire  to  weary  you  with  extended  commentaries  on  the 
economy  of  Moses  ;  and  this  evening's  discourse  has  been 
intended  only  to  illustrate  the  general  principle  underlying 
its  many  regulations — the  necessity  of  separating  Israel 
from  surrounding  nations,  and  of  impressing  their  un- 
tutored natures  with  precept  upon  precept  of  wisdom 
enforced  by  line  upon  line  of  minute  observance. 

I  w^ill  close  to-night  by  calling  your  attention  to  a 
dramatic  scene  in  the  history  of  this  people  to  which  I 
alluded  in  an  earlier  discourse.  When  you  consider  what 
an  uncultivated  and  naturally  imaginative  and  supersti- 
tious people  they  were,  you  will  recognize  how  striking 
that  drama  must  have  been.  I  need  not  go  back  to  the 
grandeur  and  unsurpassable  sublimity  of  that  spectacle 
wherein  the  great  congregation  of  Israel,  in  an  oasis  of  the 
desert,  came  to  a  narrow  plain  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Sinai, 
and  saw  the  flame  and  heard  the  Voice  when  Moses  re- 
ceived^ the  law  at  the  hands  of  Majesty.  That  the  impres- 
sion produced  by  this  exhibition  must  have  been  very 
powerful  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  from  time  immemorial 
writers  have  striven  to  adequately  picture  it. 

There  was  another  scene  which,  though  of  a  different 
character,  was  as  full  of  sublime  grandeur  as  that.  Moses 
ordained  that  when  all  the  statutes  which  he  had  developed 
had  been  practiced  by  the  children  of  Israel  in  their  wan- 
derings until  they  came  to  the  border  of  the  promised  land, 
so  soon  as  they  had  gone  over  the  Jordan,  the  law  should 
be  ratified  by  the  acclamation  of  the  people,  and  under 
circumstances  which  should  indelibly  impress  its  sanctity 
upon  their  minds.  Crossing  the  Jordanbefore  Jericho,  and 
passing  over  the  plains  of  Mamre,  they  came  to  two  moun- 
tains— that  at  the  north,  Ebal,  and  that  at  the  south,  Ger- 
izim.  with  a  vallev  between  them.     It  was  here  that  the 


2g4  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

ceremonies  took  place  whicli  are  described  in  the  twenty- 
seventh  chapter  of  Deuteronomy  : — 

"And  Moses  with  the  elders  of  Israel  commanded  the  people,  saying, 
Keep  all  the  commandments  which  I  command  j'ou  this  day.  And  it  shall 
be  on  the  day  when  ye  shall  pass  over  Jordan  unto  the  land  which  Jehovah 
thy  God  giveth  thee,  that  thou  shalt  set  thee  up  great  stones,  and  plaster 
them  with  plaster  [that  being  the  way  in  which  they  wrought] :  and  thou 
shalt  write  upon  them  all  the  words  of  this  law  [the  Ten  Commandments], 
when  thou  art  passed  over,  that  thou  mayest  go  in  unto  the  land  which  Je- 
hovah thy  God  giveth  thee,  a  land  that  floweth  with  milk  and  honey  ;  as  Je- 
hovah God  of  thy  fathers  hath  promised  thee.  Therefore  it  shall  be  when 
ye  be  gone  over  Jordan,  that  ye  shall  set  up  these  stones,  which  I  command 
you  this  day,  in  Mount  Ebal,  and  thou  shalt  plaster  them  with  plaster. 
And  there  shalt  thou  build  an  altar  unto  Jehovah  thy  God,  an  altar  of 
stones  :  thou  shalt  not  lift  up  any  iron  tool  upon  them.  Thou  shalt  build 
the  altar  of  Jehovah  thy  God  of  whole  stones  :  and  thou  shalt  offer  burnt 
offerings  thereon  unto  Jehovah  thy  God  :  and  thou  shalt  offer  peace  offer- 
ings, and  shalt  eat  there,  and  rejoice  before  Jehovah  thy  God.  And  thou 
shalt  write  upon  the  stones  all  the  words  of  this  law  very  plainly, 

"And  Moses  and  the  priests  the  Levites  spake  unto  all  Israel,  saying. 
Take  heed,  and  hearken,  O  Israel ;  this  day  thou  art  become  the  people  of 
Jehovah  thy  God.  Thou  shalt  therefore  obey  the  voice  of  Jehovah  thy 
God,  and  do  his  commandments  and  his  statutes,  which  I  command  thee  this 
day.  And  Moses  charged  the  people  the  same  day,  saying,  These  shall 
stand  upon  Mount  Gerizim  to  bless  the  people,  when  ye  are  come  over  Jor- 
dan ;  Simeon,  and  Levi,  and  Judah,  and  Issachar,  and  Joseph,  and  Benjamin, 
[the  favorite  ones  ;  the  beautiful  natures] :  and  these  shall  stand  upon  Mount 
Ebal  to  curse;  Reuben,  Gad,  and  Asher,  and  Zebulun,  Dan,  and  Naphtali." 

When  all  things  were  prepared,  at  a  signal  from  the 
priests,  the  blessings  and  the  curses  that  attended  the  ful- 
fillment or  the  violation  of  the  law  of  God  were  uttered,  and 
were  echoed  from  one  mountain  to  the  other. 

"And  the  Levites  shall  speak,  and  say  unto  all  the  men  of  Israel  with  a 
loud  voice,  Cursed  be  the  man  that  maketh  any  graven  or  molten  image, 
an  abomination  unto  Jehovah,  the  work  of  the  hands  of  the  craftsman,  and 
putteth  it  in  a  secret  place." 

And  so  soon  as  the  echo  of  that  had  died  away,  the  whole 
congregation  of  people  on  Ebal  and  Gerizim,  and  all  that 
were  between,  with  a  sound  like  that  of  many  waters,  cried 
out,  Amen  /  And  from  Mount  Gerizim  on  tlie  other  side 
came  the  corresponding  blessing  to  those  that  worshiped 
the  one  true  God.     Then  the  whole  people  gave  out  the 


hlOSAIC  INSTITUTES:   SOCLIL  OI^SERVAACE.         295 

response,  A  me// !  Then  Mount  Eb^il  thundered  back  another 
curse.  Then  Gerizim  sent  forth  another  blessing.  So 
these  gigantic  mountains  answered  each  other  witli  curses 
and  blessings  like  echoes  in  the  storms  of  the  Alps,  re- 
sounding from  peak  to  peak.  And  finally  the  vast  assem- 
bly dispersed. 

Thus  was  ratified,  in  a  manner  than  which  there  could 
have  been  none  more  impressive  upon  the  imagination 
and  the  senses,  the  law  promulgated  by  Moses,  the  people 
invoking  upon  t.hemselves  the  curses  of  disobedience  and 
the  blessings  of  obedience.  It  was  the  carrying  out  of 
that  economy  which  was  meant  to  bring  the  children  of 
Israel  up  from  barbarism  and  idolatry  to  civilization  and 
the  worship  of  Jehovah.  It  was  a  ceremony  so  striking 
and  so  sublime  that  it  could  never  die  out  of  the  memory, 
and  could  never  cease  to  elevate  the  imagination  of  those 
who  were  participants  in  it. 

I  bear  witness  that,  though  it  be  professionally  my  busi- 
ness to  study  the  Word  of  God,  the  more  I  read  and  ponder 
the  contents  of  the  Old  Testament  the  more  are  my  admi- 
ration and  reverence  for  that  book  increased  ;  and  those 
who  have  not  found  this  to  be  so  should  give  more  atten- 
tion to  that  book  as  a  means  of  better  understanding  the 
New  Testament. 

In  the  West,  a  venerable  preacher  who  drew  very  much 
of  his  instruction  from  the  Old  Testament  was  called  to 
order  in  a  council  of  ministers  for  placing  too  much  stress 
upon  the  Old  Testament  writings.  They  told  him  he 
should  preach  more  from  the  New  Testament  and  less 
from  the  Old.  "  Brethren,"  said  he,  "  I  am  a  soldier,  and  I 
find  that  the  way  to  make  a  good  shot  is  to  draw  the  fore- 
sight through  the  hindsight.  By  my  experience  I  am 
convinced  that  if  in  preaching  a  minister  would  make  a 
good  shot,  he  can  do  it  best  b}^  drawing  the  foresight  of 
the  New  Testament  through  the  hindsight  of  the  Old.  In 
that  way  he  can  be  more  sure  that  he  is  giving  his  people 
the  real  Word  of  God."  And  my  own  belief  is  that, 
though  the  Old  Testament  is  to  be  read  with  discrimina- 


296  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

lion,  and  in  the  light  of  the  knowledge  that  has  accumu- 
lated about  it  during  the  ages  that  have  passed  since  it 
was  written,  you  will  find  within  the  lids  of  that  book- 
honey  in  the  honey-comb.  There  are  rude  places  in  it  ; 
but  as  travelers  through  deserts  and  over  mountains  here 
and  there  find  sweet  little  valleys,  so  in  reading  the  Old 
Testament  you  will  find  exquisite  histories,  beautiful  scenes, 
and  profound  wisdom,  such  as  are  not  contained  in  any 
other  literature  on  the  globe. 


XVI. 
THE  FEAST  OF  TABERNACLES. 


"Go  ye  up  unto  this  feast :  I  go  not  up  yet  unto  this  feast ;  for  my  time 
is  not  yet  full  come.  When  he  had  said  these  words  unto  them,  he  abode 
still  in  Galilee.  But  when  his  brethren  were  gone  up,  then  went  he  also 
up  unto  the  feast,  not  openly,  but  as  it  were  in  secret." — Jno.  vii.  8-io. 


This  was  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  as  we  are  informed 
in  the  second  verse  of  this  chapter.  The  continued  exist- 
ence and  flourishing  of  the  great  feasts  of  the  Jews  are 
indicated  by  this  passage  from  the  life  of  our  Saviour,  not 
only,  but  by  others  showing  his  interest  in  them,  and  his 
observance  of  them.  We  shall  have  occasion,  this  evening, 
in  going  on  with  our  account  of  the  Mosaic  economy,  to 
pay  attention  to  the  development  and  offices  of  these  great 
annual  festivals  of  the  Jews  ;  but,  before  this,  a  word  upon 
the  sacrifices  that  formed  the  worship  and  ministration  of 
the  priesthood  and  the  Levitical  order. 

On  few  subjects  has  there  been  so  much  discussion  to  so 
little  purpose  as  on  the  origin  and  meaning  of  the  sacri- 
fices— the  Divine  Offerings,  as  they  are  perhaps  more  fitl}^ 
called  in  the  Old  Testament.  Sacrifices  or  offerings  have 
belonged  to  every  nation  and  tribe  on  the  globe.  It  may 
suffice  to  remark,  in  a  general  way,  that  they  represented 
the  efforts  of  men  to  conciliate  their  gods.  They  existed 
long  before  the  time  of  Moses.  They  were  known  to  the 
patriarchs.  They  were  known  and  practiced  in  the  land 
from  which  the  patriarchs  came  out.  They  were  common 
to  all  the  nations  around  about. 

The   development   of   the  sacrificial    system   varied    in 


Sunday  evening,  March  i,  1S79.    I-esso.n  :  Psa.  xcvii. 


298  BIBLE  Sli'DIE^. 

different  lands — in  Egypt,  in  Chaldea,  in  Persia,  and  in 
S  /ria  ;  their  diversities  were  almost  as  great  as  those  of  the 
languages  and  customs  themselves ;  but  there  was  this 
common  root  in  them — namel}',  conciliation  ;  access  to  the 
reigning  invisible  powers  ;  offerings  of  placation  ;  testi- 
monials of  devotion,  of  reverence  or  honor.  From  that 
simple  beginning  they  were  differentiated  ;  and  in  the 
Mosaic  system  it  was  sought  by  sacrifices  to  attach  to 
almost  every  one  of  the  interests  of  life  associations  of 
its  relation  to  the  ruling  power  of  the  nation — Jehovah. 
There  was  scarcely  a  thing  in  the  person,  in  the  family,  in 
the  grain  that  sprang  from  the  ground,  in  the  fruit  that 
grew  in  the  vineyard,  in  anything  that  belonged  to  them 
in  the  nature  of  prosperity  or  of  wealth,  that  in  one  way 
or  another  was  not,  by  being  offered  solemnly  and  relig- 
iously, made  to  bear  a  relation  in  their  thought  to  the 
overruling  God.  In  the  Tabernacle,  and  afterwards  more 
signally  in  the  Temple,  the  sacrifices  or  offerings  were  so 
organized  that  their  observance  should  honor  and  rever- 
ence God. 

Whether  or  not  the  modern  argument  derived  from  the 
great  sacrifice  of  Christ  and  the  atoning  power  of  his  suf- 
fering and  death  are  legitimately  deduced  from  the  Jew- 
ish ideas  I  will  not  undertake  to  say.  I  will  say  simply 
this  :  that  modern  thought  has  not  made  allowance  enough 
for  the  real  thought  of  antiquity,  and  that  into  the  sacri- 
fices that  are  celebrated  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  that 
had  their  fulfillment  and  completion  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  we  have  injected  a  modern  element  of  thought  that 
did  not  exist  among  the  orthodox  Jews  of  the  old  dispen- 
sation. 

Their  sacrifices  were  official  —  that  is,  while  it  was  the 
common  business  of  members  of  the  family  to  make  offer- 
ings to  God,  the  more  solemn  offerings  were  made  through 
the  ministration  of  the  priests. 

You  will  recollect  that  there  was  one  tribe  set  apart  for 
the  services  of  the  sanctuary.  The  Levites  and  the  priests 
did  not  represent  in  the  ancient  economy  what  the  priest- 


THE  FEAST  OF  TABEKXACLES.  299 

hood  does  in  our  day.  Priests  in  modern  economy  are  an 
instructed  class,  for  administration  in  religious  and  moral 
thought  and  service.  While  they  were  yet  in  the  wilder- 
ness the  Levites  and  the  priests  were  really  the  standing- 
army  of  the  Jews  ;  and  throughout  the  greater  part  of 
their  national  existence  the  office  of  the  priest  was  far 
more  nearly  allied  to  that  of  the  butcher  than  to  that  of 
the  orator,  or  expositor,  or  preacher.  Moreover,  the  greatest 
generals  of  the  nation  were  drawn  from  the  priestly  or- 
der. The  Levites  were  the  defending  power.  They  were 
the  military  centers.  Whenever  the  armies  were  arrayed 
for  offense  or  defense  they  were  headed  by  their  Levitical 
officers.  When  the  sacrifices  were  offered  up  in  the  Tem- 
ple, although  there  were  prayers,  and  chants,  and  various 
other  solemnities  by  others,  yet  the  blood-offerings  were 
made  by  the  Levites.  There  were  offerings  of  grain,  and 
fruits,  and  frankincense,  and  w^hat  not,  which  they  did  not 
direct  ;  but  when  bullocks,  and  goats,  and  lambs,  and  turtle 
doves  were  to  be  sacrificed,  these  were  offered  up  through 
the  Levites,  or  the  priesthood. 

If  you  will  read  the  account  of  the  dedication  of  the 
Temple  of  Solomon,  you  will  see  what  a  business  it  was. 
It  is  scarcely  possible  for  our  modern  imagination  not  to 
be  shocked  at  the  scenes  of  blood  which  must  needs  have 
taken  place  every  year,  two  or  three  times,  in  connection 
with  the  sacrificial  rites  of  the  Jews. 

We  cannot  conceive  of  a  service  of  that  kind  in  which,  in 
succession,  bullocks  and  lambs  were  knocked  down,  and 
the  priests  stood  by  to  take  the  blood  that  flowed  from  the 
necks  of  these  animals.  Literally,  a  whole  river  of  blood 
ran,  in  these  sacrifices,  through  days  and  days.  The  huge 
abattoirs  in  some  of  our  towns  are  inadequate  to  represent 
what  took  place  in  those  early  times.  The  slaughter  of 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  animals  in  the  great  sacrificial 
service  of  the  Temple  is  so  barren  to  every  conception  we 
have,  that  we  can  scarcely  go  back  to-day  in  our  thought 
and  gain  any  realization  of  the  scenes  that  were  enacted 
then. 


300 


BIBLE  srrDii:s. 


With  us,  blood  means  dcatJi  ;  we  liave-  hardly  a  single 
conception,  that  is  not  artificial,  which  gives  us  any  pleas- 
ant association  in  regard  to  these  things.  But  to  the  Jews 
they  had  pleasant  associations.  "The  blood  is  the  ///>," 
said  Moses.  Blood,  as  the  universal  symbol  of  life,  was 
connected  with  their  deepest  thoughts  and  most  sacred  feel- 
ings.    Here  is  a  gulf  between  them  and  us. 

Now,  although,  the  priests  ministered  somewhat  in  in- 
struction, although  some  of  them  read  the  Psalms,  or  the 
Law,  yet  the  great  body  of  them  were  men  of  robust 
strength,  stalwart,  lusty,  who  could  wield  the  battle-axe, 
or  the  butcher's  axe,  as  the  case  might  be  ;  and  they  stood 
almost  as  far  apart  as  it  is  possible  to  conceive  of  their 
standing  from  the  priesthood  as  it  is  organized  in  modern 
times  and  as  it  exists  in  our  Roman  Catholic  and  Episcopal 
churches.  .  In  the  Presbyterian,  the  Congregational,  the 
Baptist,  and  other  churches  there  is  no  priesthood.  These 
churches  have  a  ministry,  not  a  priesthood,  and  they  are 
exempt  from  many  of  the  vexations  and  perplexities  which 
belong  to  a  priesthood.  It  would  seem  as  though  it  would  be 
a  very  dangerous  thing  to  have  introduced  into  a  common- 
wealth a  whole  tribe  of  privileged  men  that  stood  between 
the  people  and  God,  and  that  therefore  substantially  owned 
the  national  conscience  ;  but  experience  shows  that  per- 
haps in  til  is  case  less  harm  flowed  from  it  than  ever  before 
or  since.  It  is  notorious  that  the  priesthood,  the  world 
around,  has  had  a  supremacy  over  the  imaginations,  the 
fears,  and  the  consciences  of  men,  and  that,  too,  through 
the  instrumentality  of  elements  taken  up  and  augmented 
by  worldly  ambition  and  organization.  But  this  inheres  in 
tlie  nature  of  things.  It  is  the  tendency  of  human  nature 
to  look  up,  to  aspire  ;  and  any  man  that  officially  represents, 
or  any  class  of  men  that  represent,  higher  conceptions  of 
life  and  duty  than  the  average  will  draw  to  them  the 
thoughts  and  the  reverence  of  the  masses  of  mankind.  It 
cannot  be  helped  ;  and  oftentimes  persons  will  receive 
homage  when  individually  they  may  be  unworthy  of  it ; 
for,  with  all  the  gravitation  that  there  is  in  man's  passions 


THE  FEAST  OF  TABERXACLES.  301 

toward  evil,  there  is  also  a  struggle,  feeble  or  strong  as  the 
case  may  be,  of  the  divine  principle  in  human  nature, 
toward  light  and  purity  and  elevation,  and  thus  toward 
what  stands  for  those  loftier  aims. 

In  general,  according  to  the  civilization  and  knowledge 
of  the  globe,  the  priesthood  represent  the  best  elements  of 
human  nature,  and  strive  to  draw  people  up  to  those  ele- 
ments ;  but  when  they  are  organized  as  a  class,  with 
peculiar  privileges,  when  they  gather  wealth  to  themselves, 
and  when  political  power  comes  into  their  hands  as  well, 
then  they  become  a  very  dangerous  class.  It  is  dangerous 
in  a  great  community  to  have  any  class  which  is  immovable, 
and  in  which  there  is  no  circulation  from  the  bottom  to 
the  top. 

Now,  the  Levites  had  no  possessions.  They  had  places 
appointed  for  them,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  they  took 
possession  of  many  of  them.  They  were  made  to  be  de- 
pendent upon  the  voluntary  contributions  of  the  people. 
Tithes  were  the  support  on  which  they  lived,  and  it  was  a 
very  moderate  support.  And  they  never,  in  history,  grew 
to  be  a  rich  or  a  dangerous  class.  One  striking  fact  is  that 
these  priests,  especially  if  they  were  high  priests,  even  if 
they  were  most  degenerate,  were  dear  to  the  people — to 
the  comxmon  people — and  were  regarded  as  in  some  sense 
of  them,  among  them,  and  belonging  to  them.  The  Levit- 
ical  economy  was  not  one  that  separated  the  priests  from 
the  people  in  such  a  way  that  they  lost  sympathy  with 
them.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  a  feeling  of  mutual 
companionship. 

I  pass,  now,  to  the  discussion  of  some  other  elements  of 
this  great  enginery  of  the  commonwealth  of  Israel  which 
have  not  received,  it  seems  to  me,  that  consideration  which 
really  belongs  to  them.  There  v/ere  three  grcc  t  festivals 
appointed  by  Moses,  which,  although  the}"  were  inter- 
mitted, and  although  they  lapsed  at  times,  were  in  exist- 
ence down  to  the  time  of  our  Lord,  and  after  the  city  of 
Jerusalem  was  broken  up  by  the  Romans  and  the  Jewish 
people  were  scattered.     The  first  of  these  was  the  Feast  of 


3^2  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

the  Passover,  the  second  was  the  Pentecost,  and  the  third 
was  tlie  Feast  of  the  Tabernacles. 

The  Feast  of  the  Passover  was  desisrned  to  commemo- 
rate  and  to  bear  v/ith  it  the  whole  breadth  of  the  moral 
instruction  which  belonged  to  the  sublime  providence  of 
God  by  which,  when  the  firstborn  of  Eg3'pt  were  de- 
stroyed, the  destroying  angel  passed  over  the  places  where 
his  chosen  ones  lived  and  saved  them.  It  became  an 
ordinance  in  Israel  that  every  year,  upon  an  appointed 
day,  there  should  be  a  memorable  and  solemn  convoca- 
tion of  the  people,  and  that  this  should  be  the  general 
ground  and  reason  of  it.  The  sacrifices,  the  songs  and 
chants,  the  various  emblematical  services,  w^ere  arranged 
around  about  that  historic  center. 

Then,  counting  fifty  days  or  seven  weeks  from  the  Pass- 
over, came  the  Feast  of  the  Pentecost  {the  Fiftieth).  That 
was  more  in  the  nature  of  a  Thanksgiving,  and  celebration 
of  the  in-gathering,  for  it  represented  the  nation  in  the  act 
of  bringing  the  first  fruits  of  all  the  products  of  the  fi.eld, 
and  offering  them  up  at  the  hands  of  the  priests  as  a  testi- 
mony of  thanks  to  God. 

Later  on,  in  October,  when  they  had  gathered  their 
grapes,  their  olives,  their  figs,  and  their  latest  fruits  of  the 
field,  came  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles.  This  last,  however, 
had  a  prior  or  larger  historical  element  than  the  Pentecost, 
in  that  it  celebrated  the  residence  of  the  people  in  the 
wilderness,  when  they  had  no  fields  to  sow,  no  pasturage, 
no  oil,  no  wine,  no  vineyards. 

If  the  Passover  was  the  most  solemn  and  profoundly 
religious,  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  was  by  all  odds  the 
most  convivial  and  joyous  of  these  three  feasts.  The  Feast 
of  the  Passover  occupied  seven  days,  the  Feast  of  the 
Pentecost  one  day,  and  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  eight 
days. 

By  and  by  there  was  a  fourth  festival  added,  which  was 
in  full  operation  in  tliC  time  of  the  apostles — namel}',  the 
Feast  of  Purim,  established  by  Mordecai  on  account  of 
the  escape  of  the  Jews  from  the  persecutions  of  Haman  in 


THE  FEAST  OF  TABERXACLES. 


j^j 


Persia.  This  feast  did  not  belong  to  the  trio  appointed  by 
the  Mosaic  laws.  There  were  other  great  festivals  and 
fasts.  I  pass  these  all  by,  and  confine  my  attention  to  the 
three  great  feasts  established  by  the  institutes  of  Moses. 

It  was  in  accordance  with  the  ordinance  of  Moses  that 
at  these  three  periods  every  male  whose  age  and  condition 
would  permit,  should  go  up  to  the  Tabernacle  (or  to  Jeru- 
salem after  the  Temple  had  been  established),  leaving  their 
possessions  and  so  much  of  their  families  as  were  to  re- 
main behind,  but  taking  their  families,  even  including 
their  little  children,  if  they  pleased.  Three  times  a  year 
the  whole  nation  rose  up,  as  it  were,  to  its  feet,  formed 
vast  caravans,  and  proceeded  to  the  appointed  place.  Mul- 
titudes came  from  the  north  and  the  upper  line  of  Galilee 
down  by  the  western  shore  of  that  sea.  They  came  from 
the  northwest,  crossing  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  meeting 
just  below  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  crossed  over  Jordan,  and 
went  down  on  a  better  caravan  road  on  the  eastern  side, 
as  far  as  Jericho,  a  little  above  the  point  where  the  Jordan 
empties  into  the  Dead  Sea,  and  thence,  recrossing  the  river, 
passed  on  to  Jerusalem.  And  in  approaching  Jerusalem 
when  near  to  Bethany  they  came  to  a  most  resplendent 
view. 

Those  that  lived  in  the  mountainous  country  came  from 
the  west.  And  from  various  directions  came  those  that 
were  in  the  southern  and  western  parts.  These  had  but 
two  or  three  days'  journey  ;  but  those  in  the  extreme  north 
made  the  distance  in  four,  five,  and  six. days,  according  to 
whether  there  were  women  and  children  among  them,  or 
whether  they  were  all  robust  men. 

From  the  moment  of  their  starting  until  their  return,  the 
whole  nation  was  one  vast  singing-school.  They  were 
perpetually  chanting  songs  to  Jehovah.  On  departing 
from  their  homes  they  left  behind  them  houses,  farms, 
cattle,  horses,  even  their  little  children, — for  usually  it 
was  not  till  the  age  of  twelve  that  children  were  taken  up 
to  the  feasts  ;  and  thousands,  tens  of  thousands  especially 
at   evening,  as  they  settled   down  in  their  picnic  camps. 


304  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

would  be  heard  to  join  in  these  songs  ;  and  among  the 
voices  of  the  multitude  might  be  distinguished  those  of 
children  and  trembling  old  men.  How  well  their  tender 
thoughts  and  feelings  were  expressed  by  such  a  Psalm  as 
this  : — 

"  I  will  lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  the  hills,  from  whence  cometh  my  help. 
My  help  cometh  from  the  Lord,  which  made  heaven  and  earth.  He  will 
not  suffer  thy  foot  to-be  moved:  he  that  keepeth  thee  will  not  slumber. 
Behold,  he  that  keepeth  Israel  shall  neither  slumber  nor  sleep.  The  Lord  is 
thy  keeper:  the  Lord  is  thy  shade  upon  thy  right  hand.  The  sun  shall  not 
smite  thee  by  day,  nor  the  moon  by  night.  The  Lord  shall  preserve  thee 
from  all  evil :  he  shall  preserve  thy  soul.  The  Lord  shall  preserve  thy  going 
out  and  thy  coming  in  from  this  time  forth,  and  even  for  evermore." 

How  beautiful,  that  those  who  took  this  journey  trusted 
to  the  Lord  all  that  they  left  behind  which  was  dear  to 
them  !  For,  as  you  will  bear  in  mind,  it  was  the  promise 
of  God  that  if  they  would  keep  his  commandments  and 
observe  his  ordinances  when  they  went  to  these  feasts  he 
would  withhold  their  enemies  so  that  they  should  not 
attack  their  homes  in  their  absence— a  promise  which  was 
kept.  I  shall  resume,  a  little  later,  some  account  of  the  use 
of  the  Psalms  on  this  journey. 

Look,  for  a  moment,  at  what  the  effect  must  have  been 
of  these  great  annual  migrations  by  which,  from  end  to 
end  of  Palestine,  the  whole  people  were  taken  out  of  their 
regular  habits.  It  does  men  good  to  take  them  out  of 
their  habits — to  drive  them  out  of  the  store  and  make 
them  forget  it ;  to'draw  them  away  from  their  offices,  and 
cause,  them  to  think  of  something  else  besides  their  toil. 
It  would  do  a  world  of  good,  if,  two  or  three  times  £i  year, 
every  housekeeper  could  make  a  pilgrimage,  and  forget 
tubs,  kneading  troughs,  the  cares  of  home — if  now  and 
then  she  could,  as  it  were,  be  sent  out  to  grass.  And  con- 
sider what  an  effect  it  must  have  had  upon  that  whole 
nation  to  have  the  family  care  very  much  surceased — to 
have  everybody,  on  every  side,  fall  into  line  in  neighborly 
ways,  and  walk  one,  two,  three,  four,  five  da3'S,  to  Jerusa- 
lem, spend  there  a  week,  and  then  go  back,  three  or  four 
weeks  being  utterly  broken  up  from  the  associations  of  the 


THE  FEAST  OF  TABERNACLES. 


j^3 


household.  What  chance  could  there  have  been  for  care 
to  plow  furrows  on  the  brows  of  such  folks?  It  is  a  good 
thing  once  in  a  while  to  intermit  cultivation,  let  the  soil 
rest,  and  allow  the  rain  to  beat  upon  it,  and  the  light  and 
air  to  come  into  it  ;  and  it  is  a  good  thing  to  break  up  the 
monotony  of  life,  and  let  in  relaxation  where  there  is  con- 
stant, solid  employment. 

So  it  was,  in  a  very  simple  and  natural  manner,  with  the 
Israelites  ;  these  pilgrimages  gave  them  elasticity,  and 
even  relieved  labor  from  its  toilsomeness  :  for  you  must 
bear  in  mind  that  slaves  under  such  circumstances  had  the 
privileges  of  their  masters.  They  were  not  to  be  debarred 
from  the  enjoyment  of  these  festivities.  The  stranger  him- 
self was  also  permitted  to  partake  of  them. 

Consider  what  is  the  condition  of  the  oppression-bound 
countries  of  Europe.  How  ignorant  they  are  !  How  un- 
elastic  they  are  !  How  mechanical  they  are  !  How  nar- 
row their  ideas  are  !  If  you  contrast  them  with  the  versa- 
tile, active,  energetic,  all-sided  Yankees  of  this  country, 
that  travel  incessantly,  that  are  alert,  day  and  night,  all 
over  the  land,  you  will  see  what  might  be  effected  by  a 
provision  of  this  kind  among  a  people  like  the  children  of 
Israel. 

Then,  it  was  the  beginning  of  a  peripatetic  education. 
It  was  not  the  Greeks  alone  that  instructed  men  while 
they  were  walking.  The  Israelites,  in  conversation  by  the 
way,  taught  the  people,  both  old  and  young.  Much  of  the 
intercourse  of  neighbors  with  neighbors  on  the  road  was 
in  the  nature  of  academic  instruction.  Have  you  never 
heard  men  that  lived  in  the  country,  after  returning  from 
large  towns  where  they  had  been  on  market  days,  tell  what 
they  had  seen,  what  they  had  done,  and  what  others  had 
done  ?  I  remember  hearing  an  old  farmer  of  Massachu- 
setts in  whose  famil}^  I  was  interested,  on  his  coming  back 
from  Boston,  give  an  account  of  having  heard  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher  preach  a  sermon.  He  described  the  congregation, 
and  told  what  the  text  was,  how  the  sermon  was  divided, 
and  how  the  subject  was  treated  ;  and  I  never  shall  forget 


20 


3o6  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

how  the  children  sat  around  and  listened  to  all  these 
things.  And  consider  how  much  two  or  three  million  peo- 
ple, going  together  to  Jerusalem,  and  attending  the  Feast 
of  Tabernacles,  and  returning,  would  have  to  talk  about. 
Consider  how  eager  they  would  be,  in  mixing  their  com- 
panies as  they  did,  to  tell  one  another  what  had  happened 
in  their  town,  in  their  province,  or  in  their  neighborhood. 
With  a  week  of  journeying  on  their  hands,  they  would 
have  time  to  unfold  all  the  news  there  was  ;  and  it  could 
not  be  but  that  they  would  enjoy  opportunities  for  educa- 
tion, and  derive  larger  conceptions  of  what  was  going  on 
around  about  them.  It  was  a  substitute,  in  some  sense,  for 
modern  newspapers — for  everybody  found  out  what  no- 
body had  any  business  to  know.  Everybody  heard  every 
rumor  that  had  been  circulated  in  any  neighborhood  about 
an3^body.  They  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  talk  over  such 
things,  and  they  generally  talked.  The  cases  were  dis- 
cussed of  the  man  who  had  gone  up  and  of  the  man  who 
had  gone  down  ;  of  the  persons  who  had  died,  and  of  the 
persons  who  had  got  married  ;  of  those  who  had  failed,  of 
those  who'  had  cheated,  and  of  those  who  had  performed 
honorable  deeds.  These  and  many  other  subjects  relating 
to  men  and  things,  as  well  as  the  weightier  matters  of  the 
Law,  would  naturally  be  made  topics  of  conversation  on 
the  road  and  during  the  time  that  was  spent  in  Jerusalem, 
by  the  vast  multitudes  that  gathered  there  on  these  occa- 
sions. After  being  there  seven  days  they  would  go  back 
pretty  full  of  news  again,  and  undoubtedly  they  kept  one 
another  well  "posted." 

This  may  seem  to  have  been  not  altogether  desirable  ; 
but  it  is  very  desirable  to  keep  people  stirring,  and  to  keep 
them  interested  and  excited  about  something.  There  is 
nothing  so  bad  for  human  nature  as  stupid,  sodden  indif- 
ference, although  there  are  different  degrees  of  merit  in 
excitement ;  but  the  prime  condition  of  the  benefit  of  men 
is  that  they  shall  be  excited  ;  and  surely  the  Israelites  were 
kept  wide-awake. 

Besides,  you  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  these  great  migra- 


THE  FEAST  OF  TABERXACLES.  307 

tions  were  a  means  of  keeping  family  ties  bright.  If,  on  the 
one  hand,  they  promoted  the  worship  of  the  invisible  God, 
on  the  other  hand  they  enhanced  in  the  minds  of  the  Jewish 
people  the  sanctity  of  the  family.  As  I  have  said  before, 
I  consider  the  power  of  the  family  among  the  Israelites  as 
being  the  saving  element  in  their  earthly  nationality.  That 
which  has  carried  them  through  the  flood  of  persecution  to 
which  they  have  been  subjected  has  been  their  conception 
of  the  family.  This  conception  has  come  down  to  us  ;  and 
we  are  indebted  in  this  respect  more  largely  to  the  Israel- 
ites than  to  any  other  nation,  or  than  to  all  other  nations 
on  the  globe. 

Now,  in  this  periodical  migration  of  the  people,  on  their 
return  they  were  undoubtedly  met  by  neighbors  and  rela- 
tives who  remained  behind,  and  it  is  presumed  that  they 
came  together  and  indulged  in  social  amenities  such  as 
we  enjoy  on  Christmas  and  Thanksgiving  days.  We  can 
readily  understand  that  they  had  ample  opportunities  to 
learn  about  each  other  when  we  bear  in  mind  that  they 
were  able  three  times  a  year  to  make  these  pilgrimages. 
It  was  a  wonderful  element  in  keeping  bright  the  lire  of 
the  family  altar  of  love. 

Then^  consider,  again,  how,  under  such  circumstances, 
the  feeling  of  patriotism  would  be  kindled.  They  wor- 
shiped, not  only,  but  they  worshiped  under  forms  that 
brought  to  memory  the  great  events  of  their  history. 
Those  feasts  were  not  like  the  roaring  Fourth  of  July 
celebrations  of  our  Independence,  where  we  substitute 
noise  for  brains — nothing  of  that  kind.  In  their  magnifi- 
cent psalms  they  chanted  on  the  road  the  events  of  their 
history.  But  the  structure  of  the  psalms  must  be  borne 
in  mind.  They  are  in  a  form  that  is  adapted  to  pronun- 
ciation and  response  by  answering  choirs.  I  have  heard 
persons  complain  of  antiphonal  singing,  with  choirs  stand- 
ing over  against  each  other  in  church  and  answering  one 
another,  as  new  fangled  ;  but  such  singing  is  older  than 
hymns.  It  seems  to  belong  to  the  childhood  of  all  nations. 
They  have  that  kind  of  singing  on  plantations  in  the  South. 


3o8  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

One  man  sings,  and  then  comes  the  chorus  of  all  the  rest. 
And  the  Israelites,  on  the  way  to  Jerusalem  as  well  as  dur- 
ing the  festive  days,  were  accustomed  to  chant  their  songs 
in  that  manner. 

Let  us  consider,  for  instance,  the  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
fifth  and  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-sixth  Psalms  : — 

"  Praise  Jehovah.  Praise  ye  the  name  of  Jehovah  ;  praise  him,  O  ye 
servants  of  Jehovah.  Ye  that  stand  in  the  house  of  Jehovah,  in  the  courts 
of  the  house  of  our  God,  praise  Jehovah ;  for  Jehovah  is  good." 

The  response  would  come,  like  thunder, — 
"Sing  praises  unto  his  name;  for  it  is  pleasant.  For  Jehovah  hath 
chosen  Jacob  unto  himself,  and  Israel  for  his  peculiar  treasure.  For  I 
know  that  Jehovah  is  great,  and  that  our  Jehovah  is  above  all  gods.  \Vhat- 
soever  Jehovah  pleased,  that  did  he  in  heaven,  and  in  earth,  in  the  seas,  and 
all  deep  places.  He  causeth  the  vapors  to  ascend  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth;  he  maketh  lightnings  for  the  rain;  he  bringeth  the  wind  out  of  his 
treasuries  :  who  smote  the  firstborn  of  Egypt,  both  of  man  and  beast :  who 
sent  tokens  and  wonders  into  the  midst  of  thee,  O  Egypt,  upon  Pharaoh, 
and  upon  all  his  servants  :  who  smote  great  nations,  and  slew  mighty  kings." 

There  is  something  grand  in  this,  when  you  consider  that 
vast  multitude  coming,  in  various  bands,  from  every  direc- 
tion, meeting,  and  with  endless  reverberating  song  chant- 
ing, day  and  evening,  the  great  events  of  their  national 
history. 

"Who  smote  great  nations,  and  slew  mighty  kings;  Sihon  king  of  the 
Amorites,  and  Og  king  of  Bashan,  and  all  the  kingdoms  of  Canaan:  and 
gave  their  land  for  an  heritage,  an  heritage  unto  Israel  his  people.  Thy  name, 
O  Jehovah,  endureth  forever  ;  and  thy  memorial,  O  Jehovah,  throughout  all 
generations.  For  Jehovah  will  judge  his  people,  and  he  will  repent  himself 
concerning  his  servants.  The  idols  of  the  heathen  are  silver  and  gold,  the 
work  of  men's  hands. 

"They  have  mouths,  but  they  speak  not;  eyes  have  they,  but  they  see 
not ;  they  have  ears,  but  they  hear  not ;  neither  is  there  any  breath  in  their 
mouths.  They  that  make  them  are  like  unto  them  :  so  is  every  one  that 
trusteth  in  them. 

"Bless  Jehovah,  O  house  of  Israel  :  bless  Jehovah,  O  house  of  Aaron  : 
bless  Jehovah,  O  house  of  Levi :  ye  that  fear  Jehovah,  bless  Jehovah. 
Blessed  be  Jehovah  out  of  Zion,  which  dwelleth  at  Jerusalem.  Praise  ye 
Jehovah." 

Not  one  of  these  Psalms,  but  scores  and  scores  of  them, 
were  perfectly  familiar,  residing  in  the  memory  of  those 


THE  FEAST  OF  TADERXACLES.  309 

great  crowds,  and  were  chanted  by  them  all  the  way  up  to 
Jerusalem  and  back  again.  Thus  the  little  children  learned 
the  songs,  learned  the  history  of  the  nation,  learned  the 
names  of  the  Israelitish  heroes,  and  coupled  these  patriotic 
themes  with  the  ministration  of  divine  providence,  so  that 
their  religion  had  in  it  the  most  profound  moral  sensibili- 
ties. 

Then  this  mingling  of  the  people  in  their  upward  march 
and  in  their  return  broke  up  the  tendency  to  tribal  nar- 
rowness and  sectionalism,  in  a  manner  that  we  scarcely 
should  have  anticipated.  They  were  mixed  together.  They 
formed  pleasing  acquaintances  on  the  road — for  they  dwelt 
separately.  The  law  of  property  was  such  that  the  inherit- 
ance of  each  tribe  was  kept  with  that  tribe  ;  and  the 
marriage  laws  were  such  that  the  property  reverted  to  the 
tribe,  no  matter  to  whom  the  possessor  was  married  ;  but 
this  tribal  exclusiveness  was  met  and  modified  by  the  three- 
fold mixture,  every  year,  of  the  people  who  swarmed  along 
the  great  highways  and  camped  about  Jerusalem. 

When  they  once  had  arrived  at  Jerusalem  they  were  to 
abide  there  from  one  to  two  weeks.  Josephus,  speaking  of 
one  occasion,  says  there  were  three  millions  of  people  that 
had  come  up  to  Jerusalem  at  the  time  of  the  Roman 
invasion  and  the  besieging  of  the  city.  The  number  seems 
so  great  that  many  have  doubted  it  ;  yet,  when  you  come 
to  make  an  estimate,  the  number  must  be  counted  by  mil- 
lions ;  and  you  may  as  well  say  three  millions  as  two 
millions  ;  for,  if  two  millions  could  have  been  taken  care 
of,  three  millions  could  have  been.  If  such  large  multi- 
tudes were  looked  after  during  the  passage  through  the 
Wilderness,  they  could  also  be  cared  for  during  their 
attendance  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  ;  especially  as  each 
family  group  largely  took  care  of  itself. 

Their  manner  of  camping  was  very  simple.  All  the  hills 
around  Jerusalem  were  clothed  with  people  dwelling  in 
booths,  tents,  or  tabernacles.  There  they  abode  and  ob- 
served various  ceremonies  of  the  Temple.  The  Temple  itself 
occupied  about  a  ten-acre  space.     Some  of  the  ceremonies 


310  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

were  resplendent.  The  conditions  imposed  and  tlie  offices 
enjoined  by  the  ritual,  while  they  were  in  some  respects 
superstitious  and  burdensome,  in  many  other  respects 
were  spectacular,  impressive,  and  very  powerful  on  the 
imagination. 

It  was  in  connection  with  the  Festival  of  which  we  read 
in  the  Gospels — considered  the  greatest  day  of  joy  known 
to  the  Jewish  people — that  the  old  rabbis  used  to  say,  "  He 
who  has  not  been  present  at  a  Feast  of  the  Tabernacles 
knows  not  what  it  is  to  be  joyful."  The  people  were  car- 
ried to  such  a  degree  of  exhilaration,  and  it  was  so  socially 
contagious  and  infectious,  that  these  three  millions  were  as 
good  as  mad  for  joy  around  about  that  old  city. 

You  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  day  was  one  of  holy 
convocation.  A  portion  of  each  day  was  set  apart  for 
solemn  religious  services,  and  the  rest  of  the  day  was 
devoted  to  social  conviviality.  These  things  were  ordered. 
Hospitality  was  a  religious  law.  The  people  were  com- 
manded to  provide  for  the  stranger,  for  the  orphan,  for 
the  widow,  and  for  the  Levite.  Their  housekeeping  was 
very  simple.  Their  hospitality  was  a  kind  of  friendly 
interchange.  They  occupied  themselves  a  whole  week  in 
such  social  economy  ;  and  this  was  interlaced,  mixed  up, 
with  most  solemn  observances,  led  on  by  the  priesthood. 
Can  you  conceive  of  anything  that  would  appeal  more 
strongly  to  the  imagination  of  the  Jews  than  these  Feasts 
of  the  Tabernacles,  and  the  customs  and  ceremonies  which 
accompanied  them  ?  There  never  was  an  educating  sys- 
tem which  compared  with  that  of  Moses  in  its  various  par- 
ticulars. 

There  is  another  element  that  I  want  you  to  bear  in 
mind.  I  do  not  know  where  you  will  find  anywhere  else  a 
real  provision  for  dancing  in  the  ordinances  of  religion  for 
the  purpose  of  producing  piety.  To  be  sure  there  were 
single  instances  of  the  sort  ;  dancing  was  a  religious  serv- 
ice in  Greece  and  Rome  :  but  among  the  classic  nations 
and  other  pagans  it  was  a  part  of  the  most  licentious  rites. 
Where   else   can   you    find    that  to  dance  was  to    bring  to 


THE  FEAST  OF  TABERXACLES.  311 

mind  a  holy  God  ?  That  is  not  generally  the  association 
connected  with  dancing  in  our  time  ;  but  among  the 
Hebrews  dancing  was  made  a  part  of  the  religious  cere- 
monial in  such  a  sense  that  it  was  allied  to  religious  feel- 
ing ;  and,  moreover,  religious  feeling  and  the  whole  econ- 
omy of  religion  were  to  produce  amusement,  gratification, 
happiness,  over  and  above  that  which  came  from  mere 
religious  instruction,  from  general  social  intercourse,  or 
from  home  life.  The  economy  of  the  Hebrew  common- 
wealth was  organized  to  produce  happiness,  as  if  it  were  a 
moral  quality,  and  as  if  the  production  of  it  were  worthy  of 
the  priesthood. 

The  Puritans  went  into  the  Old  Testament  and  borrowed 
from  it  profound  conceptions  of  moral  purity,  of  righteous- 
ness, and  of  the  rigor  of  an  executed  law  ;  but  the  Puritans 
left  behind  them  the  sweet  blossom  of  joy.  The  rounded- 
out  fruit  of  this  element  they  did  not  incorporate  into 
their  system — and  for  reasons  that  were  very  plain.  Music, 
dancing,  pictures,  architecture,  had  been  taken  possession 
of  by  superstition  ;  and  where  there  has  been  gross  super- 
stition iconoclasm  must  follow.  So  the  Puritans  broke 
down  all  these  fair  and  pleasant  things.  And  we  came 
from  them.  We  came  from  the  loins  of  New  England, 
very  largely,  Avhere  men  of  granite  were  made — and  they 
were  men  of  granite,  men  of  power,  men  of  stability,  foun- 
dation-men on  whom  could  be  built  a  commonwealth  ; 
but  men  that  had  no  moss,  no  vines,  no  beauty  except  the 
inherent  beauty  of  moral  grandeur.  Their  churches  were 
all  plain.  There  was  no  provision  in  them  for  amusement. 
The  only  amusement  they  had  was  that  of  going  to  church  ; 
and  that  was  not  so  amusing  as  one  might  suppose  who 
did  not  know  how  the  places  of  worship  w^ere  built. 

I  have  a  vivid  recollection  of  what  going  to  church  was 
in  my  boyhood  on  Litchfield  hill — especially  in  winter.  It 
was  a  bleak  place.  The  winds  held  jubilee.  Tribes  of 
winds  repaired  to  that  hill,  not  three  times  a  year,  but  at 
all  times  of  the  year.  And  the  church  was  in  some  respects 
a  cheerless  place.      There  was   little  or  no  provision  for 


312  B IBLE  S  7  Z  'DIES. 

comfort  or  for  decoration.  Beauty  was  a  thing  scarcely 
thought  of.  It  was  not  sought  to  promote  joy.  The  plan 
of  procedure  was  quite  unlike  that  of  the  Hebrew  com- 
monwealth, which  looked  upon  joy  not  simply  as  an  accom- 
paniment to  religion,  but  as  part  and  parcel  of  it.  The 
Jews  sanctilied  joy,  and  made  it  serve  the  Lord. 

Wesley  said  that  we  had  given  our  best  songs  and  music 
to  the  devil,  and  that  he  thought  it  right  to  make  reprisals 
and  get  them  back  again.  To  a  large  extent  the  church 
has  lost  its  hold  upon  the  imaginative  and  social  elements 
of  life,  provision  for  which  has  been  universally  made  in 
the  constitution  of  men  ;  largely,  religion  has  lost  its  hold 
upon  them  :  but  Moses,  that  wise  old  man.  of  the  desert^ 
wrought  them  into  his  system  ;  and  not  only  at  these  festi- 
vals, but  elsewhere,  the  people  were  instructed  to  observe 
them.  The  people  were  made  happy,  they  were  kept  happy, 
and  happiness  was  inculcated  as  a  duty. 

I  think  no  one  can  understand  the  Psalms  if  he  does  not 
know  how  the}"  were  used  on  these  and  other  great  occa- 
sions. I  have  read  one  or  two  of  them  to  you  ;  but  con- 
sider for  a  moment  what  the  effect  would  be  in  an  ancient 
Jewish  congregation  if  the  minister  should  get  up  and 
read,  "I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me,  Let  us  go  unto 
the  house  of  the  Lord.  Our  feet  shall  stand  within  thy 
gates,  O  Jerusalem."  Even  we  do  not  need  to  hear  that 
Psalm  read  a  great  many  times  in  order  to  be  deeply  im- 
pressed by  it  ;  but  to  any  Hebrew  gathering  it  was  resplen- 
dent with  associations.  From  the  farthest  north,  the 
region  of  perpetual  snows,  groups,  families,  neighborhoods, 
had  gathered  themselves  in  preparation  for  the  journey  to 
Jerusalem  ;  at  every  path  and  road  they  had  joined  other 
bands  ;  thus  the  multitude  steadily  grew.  There  was  the 
boy  who  had  never  before  been  to  Jerusalem,  but  whose 
imagination  had  been  fired  by  accounts  of  its  magnifi- 
cence ;  there  was  the  maiden  that  walked,  perad venture,- 
by  the  side  of  him  who  was  to  be  her  husband  ;  there  was 
the  sturdy  old  father  of  eighty,  who  was  proud  to  be  able 
to  say  that  he  could  do  as  much  as  any  of  his  boys  ;  there 


THE  FEA S T  OF  TA BER.\ \l CL ES.  3 1 3 

was  the  mother  who  also  kept  her  place  in  the  company. 
And  so  they  proceeded  on  their  journey  ;  they  went  on, 
day  and  night,  conversing  and  singing  ;  they  passed  by 
the  Jordan  and  Jericho.  At  last  they  caught  a  glimpse  of 
the  Temple  ;  and  soon  the  city  in  all  its  glory  stood  before 
them  in  the  broad  valley  beneath.  The  morning  sun  was 
rising  when  they  came  to  that  scene,  and  the  tears  ran  down 
their  cheeks,  while  they  chanted  this  Psalm  : — 

"  I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me,  Let  us  go  unto  the  house  of 
Jehovah.  Our  feet  shall  stand  within  thy  gates,  O  Jerusalem.  Jerusalem 
is  builded  as  a  city  that  is  compact  together  :  whither  the  tribes  go  up,  the 
tribes  of  Jehovah,  unto  the  testimony  of  Israel,  to  give  thanks  unto  the  name  of 
Jehovah.  For  there  are  set  thrones  of  judgment,  the  thrones  of  the  house  of 
David.  Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem  :  they  shall  prosper  that  love  thee. 
Peace  be  within  thy  walls,  and  prosperity  within  thy  palaces.  For  mv 
brethren  and  companions'  sakes,  I  will  now  say,  Peace  be  within  thee. 
Because  of  the  house  of  Jehovah  our  God  I  will  seek  thy  good." 

What  a  greeting  was  this  !  And  when  it  came  from 
thousands — from  millions — of  people,  how  impressive  it 
must  have  been  !  And  afterwards,  when  the  joy  had 
somewhat  subsided,  and  the  great  multitude  had  had  their 
various  entertainments,  and  the}^  stood  singing  some  of 
these  songs  about  the  sections  of  the  Temple  in  which  the 
priests  and  Levites  were  gathered, — for  it  rose  section 
upon  section,  court  upon  court, — standing  near  the  great 
altar,  imagine  the  priests  giving  out  a  verse  of  one  of  these 
Psalms  ;  and  then,  at  a  signal,  the  immense  crowd,  stretch- 
ing as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  down  on  one  side  and  up 
on  the  other,  giving  back  the  response,  all  the  horns  and 
instruments  sending  forth  a  blast  like  the  roll  of  thunder  ; 
followed  by  the  giving  out  by  the  priests  and  Levites 
another  part  of  the  parallelism,  and  at  a  second  signal 
the  vast  multitude  again  responding  in  a  voice  like  the 
sound  of  many  waters.  Is  it  strange  that,  under  such 
circumstances,  the  people  went  home  loving  Jerusalem  ? 
Is  it  strange  that  they  were  glad  to  go  unto  the  house  of 
the  Lord  ?  Is  it  strange  that,  from  time  to  time,  they 
reassembled  wdth  enthusiasm  at  these  feasts  ?  Is  it  strange 
that,   under  such   discipline,   their  patriotism   was  stimu- 


314  BJBLE  STCDIRS. 

lated  ?  Is  it  strange  that  they  learned  to  reverence  God 
as  they  saw  him  manifested  in  the  firmament,  in  the 
clouds,  in  the  storm,  in  the  earthquake,  and  the  volcano? 
Is  it  strange  that  beyond  compare  this  people  have  been 
the  most  remarkable  people  on  earth  in  the  perpetuity  of 
their  characteristics  and  in  the  permanence  of  their  insti- 
tutions ?  There  is  no  element  among  us  that  is  more 
transcendent  than  the  power  which  was  developed  in  the 
economy  of  the  old  Mosaic  commonwealth. 


XVII. 
IN  THE  LAND  OF  MOAB. 


"  Now  when  John  had  heard  in  the  prison  the  works  of  Christ,  he  sent 
two  of  his  disciples." — Matt.  xi.  2. 


The  prison  in  which  John  the  Baptist  lay  was  in  the 
castle  of  Machaerus  on  the  east  side  of  the  Dead  Sea.  A 
castle  built  upon  a  high  crag  overlooked  the  land  of  Moab 
on  the  left  hand  ;  the  Dead  Sea  in  front,  and  the  great 
plain  of  Moab  around  about  the  Jordan,  over  against 
Jericho,  and  extending  north  as  far  as  Lebanon.  It  was 
this  crag,  or  a  neighboring  one,  from  which  Moses  had 
taken  his  survey  of  the  promised  land.  It  was  from  this 
point  that  Balaam,  called  to  curse  Israel  in  behalf  of  Balak, 
had  been  seized  with  a  spirit  of  prophecy,  and  blessed  those 
for  whom  his  monarch  sought  cursing.  Perhaps  there  is 
not — certainly  there  is  not  east  of  the  Jordan — any  place 
that  has  more  Biblical  associations  connected  with  it  than 
this  land  of  Moab  ;  and  my  remarks  to-night  will  hover 
around  about  the  scenes  that  transpired  there. 

We  have  been  for  several  Sabbath  evenings  occupying 
ourselves  with  the  interior  economy  of  the  Israelites — their 
constitution,  their  laws,  their  great  national  observances — 
for  the  sake  of  coming  into  some  knowledge  of  the  spirit 
and  genius  of  this  remarkable  people  and  sympathy  there- 
with. Historically  tracing  their  career,  we  left  them  on  the 
plains  in  front  of  Mount  Sinai.  After  devious  wanderings, 
thirty-eight  years  having  expired,  and  all  that  were  twenty- 
one  years  of  age  when  they  left  Egypt  having  been  num- 


Sunday  evening,  March  16,  1879.     Lesson  :  John  xi.  2-15. 


3i6  BIBLE  STCDIES. 

bered  with  the  dead,  at  last  they  had  come  to  the  point  at 
which  w^e  resume  our  narrative — to  the  southern  border  of 
Palestine,  but  eastward,  on  account  of  the  warlike  people 
that  dwelt  just  below  Palestine.  They  took  a  detour,  not 
following  the  table-land  close  by  the  Dead  Sea,  but  going 
far  east  of  it,  avoiding  Moab. 

Here  the  strength  of  blood  is  a  notable  fact.  The 
Israelites  were  descendants  of  Abraham,  whose  relation- 
ship and  intimacy  w^ith  Lot  you  will  remember  ;  and  the 
people  of  Ammon  and  Moab  were  the  direct  descendants 
of  Lot  after  the  destruction  of  the  cities  of  the  plain. 
Hundreds  of  3^ears  had  passed  away,  and  generation  after 
generation  had  slept ;  and  yet,  when  Moses  came  to  bring 
the  descendants  of  Abraham  into  the  promised  land,  he 
held  the  territory  of  Moab  and  the  territory  of  Ammon 
sacred,  on  account  of  the  relationship  of  Abraham  and 
Lot,  and  asked  permission  to  pass  through  these  terri- 
tories. And  when  the  people  were  afraid  of  his  great 
multitude,  he  turned  aside  from  their  boundaries  ;  and, 
flushed  with  recent  victories,  he  passed  by  them  without 
harming  their  fields,  without  plucking  clusters  from  their 
vineyards,  and  without  even  drinking  out  of  their  wells 
that  lay  all  throughout  the  king's  highway. 

The  Israelites,  at  the  time  of  this  narrative,  had  camped 
dowm  near  the  Jordan,  on  what  were  called  "  the  plains  of 
Moab."  The  Moabites  had  occupied  the  territory  clear  up 
on  the  east  of  the  Dead  Sea,  but  had  been  driven  back  by 
their  enemies,  and  now  they  only  held  the  land  up  to  the 
river  Arnon,  about  halfway  between  the  northern  and 
southern  ends  of  that  sea  ;  the  Israelites  camping  north 
and  east  of  them.  Thus,  partly  surrounding  the  Moab- 
ites, the  Hebrews  were  in  a  position  such  that  they  might 
cut  them  off  on  the  north  ;  and  the  king,  Balak,  felt 
considerable  uneasiness, — and  had  reason  to  be  uneasy, 
for  he  did  r.(  t  know  at  what  moment  this  great  victo-- 
rious  people  would  roll  like  an  avalanche  over  him  and 
dispossess  him  of  what  was  left  to  him  of  the  Moabitish 
country.     As  the  land  was  very  rich  for  agricultural  pur- 


IN  THE  LAXD  OF.MOAB.  317 

poses,  and  as  he,  therefore,  was  all  the  more  reluctant  to 
give  it  up,  he  determined  to  take  spiritual  as  well  as  carnal 
weapons  and  destroy  this  on-coming  host.  So  he  sent  far 
across  the  desert  and  summoned  the  most  eminent  prophet 
of  his  nation  and  of  his  time,  Balaam  by  name  ;  and  there 
is  not,  in  the  whole  compass  of  Old  Testament  Scripture, 
anything  more  sublime  than  the  utterances  which  issued 
from  the  mouth  of  this  prophet — a  man  reared,  undoubt- 
edly, under  heathen  auspices,  but  standing  as  evidence  that 
while  heathenism  was  imperfect  in  its  conceptions  of  God, 
abhorrent  in  mingling  worship  with  lusts  and  appetites, 
miserably  corrupt  in  morals  and  in  the  higher  forms  of 
ethics,  there  nevertheless  existed  in  its  men  and  in  its  wor- 
ship certain  great  truths  both  of  God  and  of  moral  gov- 
ernment ;  and  nowdiere  more  than  in  the  Old  Testament  is 
there  a  tribute  paid  to  the  natural  religion  which  pre- 
vailed in  nations  outside  of  the  Israelites.  We  have  been 
brought  up  to  suppose  that  there  was  no  true  knowledge 
of  God  except  in  Israel  ;  but  history  does  not  conform  to 
any  such  notion  as  that.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  knowl- 
edge of  God  in  other  nations,  although  it  was  adulterated 
and  mixed  with  much  that  went  far  to  destroy  its  moral 
effect.  In  the  original  the  greater  part  of  this  history  is  in 
the  form  of  poetry.  In  our  authorized  version  the  poetry 
does  not  appear.  The  poetry  of  the  old  Hebrews  was  not, 
like  ours,  in  rhyme.  It  was  peculiar  to  their  literature,  but 
it  was  arithmetical  and  rhythmic  to  a  degree. 

"  The  children  of  Israel  set  forward,  and  pitched  in  the  plains  of  Moab 
on  this  side  Jordan  by  Jericho  [that  is,  over  against  Jericho].*  And  Balak 
the  son  of  Zippor  saw  all  that  Israel  had  done  to  the  Amorites.  And  Moab 
was  sore  afraid  of  the  people,  because  they  were  many :  and  Moab  was  dis- 
tressed because  of  the  children  of  Israel." 

How  great  that  distress  was  will  be  more  apparent  if  you 
turn  to  a  remarkable  passage  in  Micah,  where  is  recorded  a 
conversation  between  Balaam  and  King  Balak  which  is 
recorded  nowhere  else,  and  which  is  generally  regarded  by 

*The  Revised  Version  (1885)  has  it,  "pitched  ,  .  .  beyond  the  Jor- 
dan  at  Jericho." — Numbers,  xxii.  i. — Editor, 


31 8  BIBLE   STUDIES. 

wise  and  learned  students  of  the  Bible  as  being  a  historical 
record  of  a  conversation  that  positively  took  place  : — 

*'  I  brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  redeemed  thee  out  of 
the  house  of  servants  ;  and  I  sent  before  thee  Moses,  Aaron,  and  Miriam. 

0  my  people,  remember  now  what  Balak  king  of  Moab  consulted,  and  what 
Balaam  the  son  of  Beor  answered  him  from  Shittim  unto  Gilgal ;  that  ye 
may  know  the  righteousness  of  the  Lord." 

Then  follows  the  conversation.     Says  the  king  : — 

"  Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  the  Lord,  and  bow  myself  before  the 
high  God .''  shall  I  come  before  him  with  burnt  offerings,  with  calves  of  a 
year  old?  Will  the  Lord  be  pleased  with  thousands  of  rams,  or  with  ten 
thousands  of  rivers  of  ,oil .''  shall  I  give  my  firstborn  for  my  transgression, 
the  fruit  of  my  body  for  the  sin  of  my  soul  .-* " 

This  is  not  poetry.  In  times  of  desperate  emergency 
and  need,  when  the  danger  was  utter,  human  sacrifices 
were  made,  and  the  heir  apparent  was  the  favorite  sacri- 
fice. Kir;^  Balak  was  driven  to  that  extremity  in  the  pres- 
ence of  this  armed  host,  and  he  asked  Balaam  what  sacrifices 
he  should  make — whether  they  should  be  sacrifices  of  his 
flocks  and  herds,  or  whether  he  should  give  his  son — the 
fruit  of  his  body  for  the  sin  of  his  soul. 

And  the  reply  is  ever  memorable  : — 

"  He  hath  showed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good  ;  and  what  doth  the  Lord 
require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly 
with  thy  God  ? " 

But,  to  return  to  the  narrative. 

"And  Moab  said  unto  the  elders  of  Midian,  Now  shall  this  company  lick 
up  all  that  are  round  about  us,  as  the  ox  licUeth  up  the  grass  of  the  field. 
And  Balak  the  son  of  Zippor  was  king  of  the  Moabites  at  that  time.  He 
sent  messengers  therefore  unto  Balaam  the  son  of  Beor  to  Pethor,  whicli 
is  by  the  river  of  the  land  of  the  children  of  his  people,  to  call  him,  saying, 
Behold  there  is  a  people  come  out  from  Egypt :  behold,  they  cover  the  face 
of  the  earth,  and  they  abide  over  against  me  :  come  now  therefore,  I  pray 
thee,  curse  me  this  people ;  for  they  are  too  mighty  for  me :  peradventure 

1  shall  prevail,  that  we  may  smite  them,  and  that  I  may  drive  them  out 
of  the  land  :  for  I  wot  that  he  whom  thou  blessest  is  blessed,  and  he  whom 
thou  cursest  is  cursed." 

This  not  only  indicates  a  prophet  of  very  great  reputa- 
tion, but  also  the  superstitious  idea  that  a  remarkable 
man,  called   on  the  eve  of  some  campaign,  had  a  power 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  MOAB.  319 

which  was  equivalent  to  sorcery — the  power,  as  it  were,  of 
breathing  mildew,  so  that  his  curse  would  make  a  differ- 
ence with  the  fate  of  the  adversary. 

"And  the  elders  of  Moab  and  the  elders  of  Midian  departed  with  the 
rewards  of  divination  in  their  hand  ;  and  they  came  unto  Balaam,  and  spake 
unto  him  the  words  of  Balak." 

Now  3'ou  will  bear  in  mind  that  in  this  narrative  (and  I 
shall  return  to  it),  as  in  all  that  very  early  day,  dreams  were 
supposed  to  be  divine  revelations.  They  are  yet,  by  the 
superstitious  and  the  ignorant  ;  but  then  they  were  thought 
to  be  the  voice  and  teaching  of  God  in  such  a  sense  that 
where  things  had  been  seen  by  men  in  a  vision  they  were 
to  be  regarded  as  prophecies  or  histories.  The  events  that 
took  place  in  dreams  at  night  were  looked  upon  in  the 
morning  as  veritable  facts.  Such  being  the  case,  those 
events  were  recorded,  and  they  passed  down  into  history. 
There  is  many  and  many  a  time  when  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment record  God  is  represented  as  telling  a  man  to  do 
abominable  things — as,  in  a  dream  of  the  night,  coming  to 
him  and  addressing  to  him  such  and  such  commands. 
Sleeping  and  waking  revelations  were  regarded  as  alike 
historical  and  actual  ;  and  many  of  them  have  come  down 
to  us  in  these  old  records  as  if  the  events  described  hap- 
pened in  the  sight  of  all  men. 

Balaam  returns  no  answer  to  these  emissaries  of  Balak, 
but  says : — 

"Lodge  here  th/z  night,  and  I  will  bring  you  word  again,  as  the  Lord 
shall  speak  unto  me :  and  the  princes  of  Moab  abode  with  Balaam.  And 
God  came  unto  Balaam,  and  said,  What  men  are  these  with  thee?  And 
Balaam  said  unto  God,  Balak,  the  son  of  Zippor,  king  of  Moab,  hath  sent 
unto  me,  saying.  Behold,  there  is  a  people  come  out  of  Egypt,  which  covereth 
the  face  of  the  earth :  come  now,  curse  me  them  ;  peradventure  I  shall  be 
able  to  overcome  them,  and  drive  them  out.  And  God  said  unto  Balaam, 
Thou  shalt  not  go  with  them;  thou  shalt  not  curse  the  people:  for  they 
are  blessed." 

I  do  not  undertake  to  say  that  there  was  no  divine  influ- 
ence exerted  on  the  mind  of  the  prophet  :  I  only  express 
my  conviction  that  these  were  visions  of  the  night.  Never- 
theless,   as   I  have  often    told  you,    the   instances   of    men 


320  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

jrifted  with  the  prophetic  temperament,  both  in  the  Bible 
and  out  of  it,  are  too  frequent  for  us  to  doubt  the  existence 
of  natures  which  are  at  times  exceedingly  sensitive  to  outer 
influences — certainly  physical,  and  I  believe  also  spiritual. 

"And  I'alaam  rose  up  in  the  morning,  and  said  unto  the  princes  of  Balak, 
Get  you  into  your  land :  for  the  Lord  refuseth  to  give  me  leave  to  go  with 
you.  And  the  princes  of  INIoab  rose  up,  and  they  went  unto  Balak,  and 
said,  Balaam  refuseth  to  come  with  us.  And  Balak  sent  yet  again  princes, 
more,  and  more  honorable  than  they." 

He  thought  the  prophet  had  an  eye  to  a  good  bargain, 
and  that  he  had  not  sent  enough  presents,  and  dignitaries, 
and  promises  of  exaltation.  So  he  sent  a  much  better 
salary. 

"And  they  came  to  Balaam,  and  said  to  him,  Thus  saith  Balak  the  son  of 
Zippor,  Let  nothing,  I  pray  thee,  hinder  thee  from  coming  unto  me  :  for  I 
will  promote  thee  unto  very  great  honor,  and  I  will  do  whatsoever  thou 
sayest  unto  me:  come  therefore,  I  pray  thee,  curse  me  this  people.  And 
Balaam  answered  and  said  unto  the  servants  of  Balak,  If  Balak  would  give 
me  his  house  full  of  silver  and  gold,  I  cannot  go  beyond  the  word  of  the 
Lord  my  God,  to  do  less  or  more.  Now  therefore,  I  pray  you,  tarry  ye  also 
here  this  night,  that  I  may  know  wdiat  the  Lord  will  say  unto  me  more. 

"And  God'  came  unto  Balaam  at  night,  and  said  unto  him,  If  the  men 
come  to  call  thee,  rise  up,  and  go  with  them;  but  yet  the  word  which  I  shall 
say  unto  thee,  that  shalt  thou  do. 

"And  Balaam  rose  up  in  the  morning,  and  saddled  his  ass,  and  went  with 
the  princes  of  Moab." 

Now  comes  a  paragraph  which  I  am  going  to  read  just 
as  it  stands,  and  on  which  I  shall  then  make  a  few  remarks. 

"And  God's  anger  was  kindled  because  he  v.ent :  and  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  stood  in  the  way  for  an  adversary  against  him.  Now  he  was  riding 
upon  his  ass,  and  his  two  servants  were  with  him.  And  the  ass  saw  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  standing  in  the  way,  and  his  sv^'ord  drawn  in  his  hand  : 
and  the  ass  turned  aside  out  of  the  way,  and  went  into  the  field  :  and 
Balaam  smote  the  ass,  to  turn  her  into  the  way.  But  the  angel  of  the  Lord 
stood  in  a  path  of  the  vineyards,  a  wall  being  on  this  side,  and  a  wall  on 
that  side.  And  when  the  ass  saw  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  she  thrust  herself 
unto  the  wall,  and  crushed  Balaam's  foot  against  the  wall  :  and  he  smote 
her  again.  And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  went  further,  and  stood  in  a  narrow 
place,  where  was  no  w^ay  to  turn  either  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left. 
And  when  the  ass  saw  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  she  fell  down  under  Balaam  : 
and  Balaam's  anger  was  kindled  [when  ahorse  stumbles  men  always  thrash 
him],  and  he  smote  the  ass  with  a  staff.     And  the  Lord  opened  the  mouth 


AV  THE  LAXD  OF  MOAB.  32 1 

of  the  ass,  and  she  said  unto  Balaam,  What  have  I  done  unto  thee,  that  thou 
hast  smitten  me  these  three  times  ?  And  Balaam  said  unto  the  ass,  Because 
thou  hast  mocked  me  :  I  would  there  were  a  sword  in  mine  hand,  for  now 
would  I  kill  thee.  And  the  ass  said  unto  Balaam,  Am  not  I  thine  ass,  upon 
which  thou  hast  ridden  ever  since  I  was  thine  unto  this  day  ?  was  I  ever 
wont  to  do  so  unto  thee  ? " 

This  is  a  very  interesting  conversation. 

"And  he  said,  Nay.  Then  the  Lord  opened  the  eyes  of  Balaam,  and  he 
saw  the  angel  of  the  Lord  standing  in  the  way,  and  his  sword  drawn  in  his 
hand :  and  he  bowed  down  his  head,  and  fell  flat  on  his  face.  And  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  said  unto  him.  Wherefore  hast  thou  smitten  thine  ass 
these  three  times  .?  Behold,  I  went  out  to  withstand  thee,  because  thy  way 
is  perverse  before  me  :  and  the  ass  saw  me,  and  turned  from  me  these  three 
times  :  unless  she  had  turned  from  me,  surely  now  also  I  had  slain  thee, 
and  saved  her  alive.  And  Balaam  said  unto  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  I  have 
sinned  ;  for  I  knew  not  that  thou  stoodest  in  the  way  against  me :  now 
therefore,  if  it  displease  thee,  I  will  get  me  back  again.  And  the  angel  of 
the  Lord  said  unto  Balaam,  Go  with  the  men  :  but  only  the  word  that  I 
shall  speak  unto  thee,  that  thou  shalt  speak.  So  Balaam  went  with  the 
princes  of  Balak." 

This  is  just  exactly  what  we  might  expect  of  an  imag- 
ative  and  yet  superstitious-minded  man  like  Balaam.  It  is 
about  what  one  might  suppose  would  arise  in  the  visions 
of  the  night  and  seem  to  him  to  be  notable  fact.  Even 
in  times  of  superstition  it  must  have  startled  a  man  to  hear, 
of  all  things  on  earth,  an  ass  talking,  and  talking  good 
sense,  and  getting  the  better  of  an  argument  between  him- 
self and  his  master.  But  you  are  all  aware  that  in  dreams 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  incongruity.  In  dreams  the  most 
astonishing  combinations  occur  without  the  slightest  sur- 
prise. One  would  not  be  at  all  surprised,  in  dreaming  at 
night,  if  he  should  hear  a  grasshopper  sing  like  a  canary 
bird.  Nothing  that  happens  in  dreams  is  considered 
strange  or  mysterious.  Fear  and  shame  frequently  come 
in  dreams,  but  almost  never  a  sense  of  right  or  wrong.  So 
we  can  understand  how  Balaam,  having  this  dream  in  the 
night,  thought  it  to  be  real,  and  recited  it  in  the  morning 
as  veritable  truth. 

One  way  in  which  commentators  have  sought  to  avoid 

difficulty  has  been  by   accepting  this  as  historical ;    it   is 
21 


j^- 


BIBLE  STUDIES. 


held  up  as  a  piece  of  history.  We  know  that  the  history 
of  the  Moabites  is  being  somewhat  exhumed.  You  will 
recollect  that  some  years  ago  we  had  intelligence  that  what 
was  called  ''  the  Moabitish  stone  "  had  been  discovered, 
that  there  were  elaborate  inscriptions  upon  it,  and  that  on 
being  deciphered  it  tallied  exactly  with  many  points  of  his- 
tory as  related  in  the  Old  Testament.  But  it  is  thought  by 
many  who  have  rriade  a  study  of  the  history  of  Moab  that 
this  whole  passage  was  transferred  from  the  Moabitish 
records  into  the  writings  of  the  Old  Testament. 

Another  evidence  of  what  I  have  said  to  the  effect  that 
the  Old  Testament  is  not  a  history  w^ritten  continuously 
by  the  same  men,  but  is  a  compilation,  is  the  fact  that  even 
in  the  writings  of  Moses  there  are  fables  introduced  ;  that 
impressions  in  the  public  mind  were  caught  up  by  him  and 
answered  in  his  writings  ;  that  man}-  accounts  of  things 
which  were  said  to  have  transpired  even  after  his  time  found 
their  way  into  the  text  of  his  books. 

This  account,  therefore,  is  not  at  all  strange  if  it  be 
simply  the  superstitious  account  of  the  Moabites  in  the 
form  of  the  experience  of  their  great  prophet. 

"  When  Balak  heard  that  Balaam  was  come,  he  went  out  to  meet  him  unto 
a  city  of  Moab,  which  is  in  the  border  of  Arnon,  which  is  in  the  utmost 
coast.  And  Balak  said  unto  Balaam,  Did  I  not  earnestly  send  unto  thee  to 
call  thee?  wherefore  camest  thou  not  unto  me?  am  I  not  able  indeed  to 
promote  thee  to  honor  ?  And  Balaam  said  unto  Balak,  Lo,  I  am  come  unto 
thee :  have  I  now  any  power  at  all  to  say  anything  ?  the  word  that  God 
putteth  in  my  mouth,  that  shall  I  speak." 

We  are  not  to  suppose  that  these  persons  were  deceivers, 
impostors.  There  is  such  a  thing  even  in  our  time  and  in 
our  colder  clime  as  men  rising  quite  out  of  their  normal  or 
ordinary  condition  into  a  species  of  excitement,  a  state  of 
exaltation  ;  you  might  say  that  the  personality  of  such 
individuals  is  different  in  their  lower  or  usual  condition 
from  what  it  is  in  their  higher  or  abnormal  condition  ;  and 
these  old  heathen  prophets  of  the  highly-strung,  nervous 
Asiatic  races  undoubtedly  rose  into  an  exalted  state  such 
that  their  language  and  their  conduct  at  such  times  were 
very  different  from  ordinary. 


IN  THE  LAXD  OF  MOAB.  323 

"And  Balaam  went  with  Balak,  and  they  came  unto  Kirjath-huzoth.  And 
Balak  offered  oxen  and  sheep,  and  sent  to  Balaam,  and  to  the  princes  that 
were  with  him.  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  morrow,  that  Balak  took 
Balaam,  and  brought  him  up  into  the  high  places  of  Baal,  that  thence  he 
might  see  the  utmost  part  of  the  people." 

That  is,  he  ascended  the  highest  crag.  I  can  see  him,  in 
imagination,  standing  there,  weird,  venerable,  perplexed, 
and  looking  up  at  the  heaven,  to  the  left  far  into  the 
wilderness  on  the  south,  into  the  land  of  Judea  on  the 
west  across  the  Dead  Sea,  and  northward  on  the  right  hand 
over  the  whole  encamped  host  of  Israel,  and  seeing  the 
towers  of  the  cities  of  Palestine  gleaming  in  the  morning 
sun,  and  the  rolling  land  clear  on  to  the  white-topped 
Mount  Lebanon.  Not  a  great  while  after,  his  great  peer 
and  rival,  Moses,  also  stood,  probably,  not  far  from  the  same 
spot  ;  and  very  near  the  spot  on  which,  later,  was  the 
tower  of  Machaerus,  in  which  John  lay  a  prisoner,  and  out 
of  which  he  looked,  no  longer  with  physical  eyes  upon  the 
geographical  features  of  the  country,  but  with  spiritual 
vision  over  all  the  land,  and,  knowing  that  the  kingdom 
of  God  was  coming,  sent  his  disciples  to  ask  Jesus,  "  Art 
thou  he  that  should  come,  or  do  we  look  for  another  ? " 

Here  were  these  great  men — John,  whoni  Christ  pro- 
nounced the  most  eminent  of  worthies  ;  Moses,  the  most 
remarkable  lawgiver  of  all  the  world  ;  and  Balaam,  the 
oldest  representative  of  twilight  prophets  that  belonged  to 
the  heathen  nations.  They  were  strangely  gathered  on 
this  one  moJatain,  Nebo,  or  Pisgah,  which  has  beer,  con- 
secrated in  sacred  song. 

"And  the  Lord  put  a  word  in  Balaam's  mouth,  and  said,  Return  unto 
Balak,  and  thus  thou  shalt  speak. 

"And  he  returned  unto  him,  and,  lo,  he  stood  by  his  burnt  sacrifice,  he,  and 
all  the  princes  of  Moab.     And  he  took  up  his  parable,  and  said:* 
"  Balak  the  King  of  Moab  hath  brought  me 
From  Aram,  out  of  the  mountains  of  the  east,  saying: 
Come,  curse  me  Jacob, 


*  Balaam's  "Parables"  are  here  divided  into  poetic  lines,  according  to 
the  Revised  Version  ;  the  phraseology,  however,  remains  that  of  the  King 
James  version,  used  by  Mr.  Beechcr. — Editor. 


324  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

And  come,  defy  Israel. 

How  shall  I  curse,  whom  God  hath  not  cursed? 

Or  how  shall  I  defy,  whom  the  Lord  hath  not  defied  ? 

For  from  the  top  of  the  rocks  I  see  him, 

And  from  the  hills  I  behold  him: 

Lo,  the  people  shall  dwell  alone. 

And  shall  not  be  reckoned  among  the  nations. 

Who  can  count  the  dust  of  Jacob, 

And  the  number  of  the  fourth  part  of  Israel  .^ 

Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous, 

And  let  my  last  end  be  like  his  ! 
"And  Balak  said  unto  Balaam,  What  hast  thou  done  unto  me  ?  I  took  thee 
to  curse  mine  enemies,  and,  behold,  thou  hast  blessed  them  altogether.  And 
he  answered  and  said,  Must  I  not  take  heed  to  speak  that  which  the  Lord 
hath  put  in  my  mouth  ?  And  Balak  said  unto  him,  Come,  I  pray  thee,  with 
me  unto  another  place,  from  whence  thou  mayest  see  them  :  thou  shalt  see 
but  the  utmost  part  of  them,  and  shalt  not  see  them  all :  and  curse  me  them 
from  thence.  And  he  brought  him  into  the  field  of  Zophim,  to  the  top  of 
Pisgah,  and  built  seven  altars,  and  offered  a  bullock  and  a  ram  on  every  altar. 
"And  he  said  unto  Balak,  Stand  here  by  thy  burnt  offering,  while  I 
meet  the  Lord  yonder.  And  the  Lord  met  Balaam,  and  put  a  word  in  his 
mouth,  and  said,  Go  again  unto  Balak,  and  say  thus. 

"And  when  he  came  to  him,  behold,  he  stood  by  his  burnt  offering,  and 
the  princes  of  INIoab  with  him.     And  Balak  said  unto  him.  What  hath  the 
Lord  spoken  ?     And  he  took  up  his  parable,  and  said, 
"  Rise  up,  Balak,  and  hean; 

Hearken  unto  me,  thou  son  of  Zippor  : 

God  is  not  a  man,  that  he  should  lie  ; 

Neither  the  son  of  man,  that  he  should  repent : 

Hath  he  said,  and  shall  he  not  do  it  ? 

Or  hath  he  spoken,  and  shall  he  not  make  it  good  ? 

Behold,  I  have  received  commandment  to  bless : 

And  he  hath  blessed,  and  I  cannot  reverse  it. 
.  He  hath  not  beheld  iniquity  in  Jacob, 

Neither  hath  he  seen  perverseness  in  Israel : 

The  Lord  his  God  is  with  him, 

And  the  shout  of  a  king  is  among  them. 

God  brought  them  out  of  I'^gypt ; 

He  hath  as  it  were  the  strength  of  an  unicorn.* 
Surely  there  is  no  enchantment  against  Jacob, 

Neither  is  there  any  divination  against  Israel : 

According  to  this  time  it  shall  be  said  of  Jacob  and  of  Israel, 

What  hath  God  wrought ! 

Behold,  the  people  shall  rise  up  as  a  great  lion, 

*  Wild-ox. 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  MOAB.  325 

And  lift  up  himself  as  a  young  lion : 
He  shall  not  lie  clown  until  he  eat  of  the  prey, 
And  drink  the  blood  of  the  slain. 
"And  Balak  said  unto  Balaam,  Neither  curse  them  at  all,  nor  bless  them 
at  all." 

It  was  as  much  as  to  say,  in  a  kingly  way,  "Hold  your 

tongue  ! " 

"  But  Balaam  answered  and  said  unto  Balak,  Told  not  I  thee,  saying,  All 
that  the  Lord  speaketh,  that  I  must  do?  And  Balak  said  unto  Balaam, 
Come,  I  pray  thee,  I  will  bring  thee  unto  another  place." 

It  used  to  be  thought  that  certain  places  were  favorable 
— that  some  were  enchanted — that  some  were  under  mag- 
ical spells  ;  and  having  tried  twice,  Balak  thought  that 
perhaps  elsewhere  the  desired  curse  might  be  granted. 

"  Peradventure  it  will  please  God  that  thou  mayest  curse  me  them  from 
thence." 

But  after  sacrificing  again  Balaam  felt  that  it  was  not 

the  will  of  God  to  curse  Israel. 

"And  when  Balaam  saw  that  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  bless  Israel,  he  went 
not,  as  at  other  times,  to  seek  for  enchantments,  but  he  set  his  face  toward 
the  wilderness.  And  Balaam  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  he  saw  Israel  abiding 
in  his  tents  according  to  their  tribes  ;  and  the  spirit  of  God  came  upon  him. 
And  he  took  up  his  parable,  and  said, 

"Balaam,  the  son  of  Beor  hath  said. 

And  the  man  whose  eyes  are  open  hath  said : 

He  hath  said,  which  heard  the  words  of  God, 

Which  saw  the  vision  of  the  Almighty, 

Falling  into  a  trance,  but  having  his  eyes  open: 

How  goodly  are  thy  tents,  O  Jacob, 

And  thy  tabernacles,  O  Israel ! 

As  the  valleys  are  they  spread  forth, 

As  gardens  by  the  river's  side, 

As  the  trees  of  lign-aloes  which  the  Lord  hath  planted, 

And  as  cedar  trees  beside  the  waters. 

He  shall  pour  the  water  out  of  his  buckets. 

And  his  seed  shall  be  in  many  waters. 

And  his  king  shall  be  higher  than  Agag, 

And  his  kingdom  shall  be  exalted. 

God  brought  him  forth  out  of  Egypt ; 

He  hath  as  it  were  the  strength  of  an  unicorn : 

He  shall  eat  up  the  nations  his  enemies, 

And  shall  break  their  bones, 

And  pierce  them  through  with  his  arrows. 


326  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

He  couched,  he  lay  clown  as  a  lion, 
And  as  a  great  lion  :  who  shall  stir  him  up  ? 
Blessed  is  he  that  blesseth  thee. 
And  cursed  is  he  that  curseth  thee. 
"And  Balak's  anger  was  kindled  against  Balaam,  and  he  smote  his  hands 
together." 

He  was  very  angr3^  He  had  sought  out  Balaam  ;  he 
had  intreated  him,  he  had  commanded  him  to  come  ;  in 
vain.  At  last,  in  answer  to  yet  greater  presents  and  hon- 
ors, the  prophet  came  ;  and  he  had  sought  enchantments 
and  sacrifices  for  the  formulation  of  the  curse  ;  but  when 
he  spoke,  he  spoke  blessings.  With  change  of  place  and 
change  of  enchantments,  he  again  blessed  the  Israelites. 
And  now,  when — lifted  above  enchantments,  and  under  the 
influence  of  the  spirit  of  God — Balaam  blessed  them  again, 
Balak  was  hot  with  anger,  and  slapped  his  hands  together, 
as  a  man  about  to  fight. 

"And  Balak  said  unto  Balaam,  I  called  thee  to  curse  mine  enemies,  and, 
behold,  thou  hast  altogether  blessed  them  these  three  times.  Therefore 
now  flee  thou  to  thy  place :  I  thought  to  promote  thee  unto  great  honor ; 
but,  lo,  the  Lord  hath  kept  thee  back  from  honor." 

Balaam  was  not  scared  a  bit. 

"And  Balaam  said  unto  Balak,  Spake  I  not  also  to  thy  messengers  which 
thou  sentest  unto  me,  saying.  If  Balak  would  give  me  his  house  full  of  silver 
and  gold,  I  cannot  go  beyond  the  commandment  of  the  Lord,  to  do  either 
good  or  bad  of  mine  own  mind  ;  but  what  the  Lord  saith,  that  will  I  speak  ? 
And  now,  behold,  I  go  unto  my  people  :  come  therefore,  and  I  will  advertise 
thee  what  this  people  shall  do  to  thy  people  in  the  latter  days.  And  he 
took  up  his  parable,  and  said, 

"  Balaam  the  son  of  Beor  hath  said. 

And  the  man  whose  eyes  are  open  hath  said : 

He  hath  said,  which  heard  the  w  ords  of  God, 

And  knew  the  knowledge  of  the  Most  High, 

Which  saw  the  vision  of  the  Almighty, 

Falling  into  a  trance,  but  having  his  eyes  open." 

He  was  himself  conscious  of  passing  into  a  trance  state. 

"  I  shall  see  him,  but  not  now^ : 
I  shall  behold  him,  but  not  nigh  : 
There  shall  come  a  Star  out  of  Jacob, 
And  a  Scepter  shall  rise  out  of  Israel, 
And  shall  smite  the  corners  of  Moab, 


J  A'  THE  LAND  OF  iMOAB.  327 

And  destroy  all  the  children  of  Sheth. 
And  Edom  shall  be  a  possession, 
Seir  also  shall  be  a  possession  for  his  enemies ; 
And  Israel  shall  do  valiantly. 

Out  of  Jacob  shall  come  he  that  shall  have  dominion, 
And  shall  destroy  him  that  remaineth  of  the  city. 
"And  when  he  looked  on  Amalek,  he  took  up  his  parable,  and  said, 
"  Amalek  was  the  first  of  the  nations ; 
But  his  latter  end  shall  be  that  he  perish  forever. 
"And  he  looked  on  the  Kenites,  and  took  up  his  parable,  and  said, 
"  Strong  is  thy  dwelling  place, 
And  thou  puttest  thy  nest  in  a  rock. 
Nevertheless  the  Kenite  shall  be  wasted, 
Until  Asshur  shall  carry  thee  away  captive. 
"And  he  took  up  his  parable,  and  said, 

"  Alas,  who  shall  live  when  God  doeth  this ! 
And  ships  shall  come  from  the  coast  of  Chittim, 
And  shall  afflict  Asshur,  and  shall  afflict  Eber, 
And  he  also  shall  perish  for  ever. 
"And  Balaam  rose  up,  and  went  and  returned  to  his  place:  and  Balak 
also  went  his  way." 

Now,  this  sublime  strain  of  poetry,  or  prophecy,  or  what- 
ever you  may  call  it,  throws  a  great  light  upon  the  actual 
condition  of  things  outside  of  Israel — upon  the  character  of 
some  of  the  men  that  served  as  priests  and  prophets  in  the 
midst  of  heathen  worship.  They  were  evidently  not  alto- 
gether given  over'  to  superstition  and  priestcraft  and  self- 
seeking. 

Yet,  when  Balaam  returned  to  his  own  people  he  did  not 
do  it  without  degenerating  and  falling  back  into  his  or- 
dinary nature  again.  He  counseled,  it  would  seem,  that 
though  Balak  could  not  by  the  hand  of  violence  prevail 
against  the  adversary  he  might  by  craft  and  cunning.  It 
was  in  accordance  with  his  counsel  that  the  minions  of  Moab 
went  forth  to  inveigle  and  seduce  the  Israelites,  giving  rise 
fo  some  of  the  most  terrible  penalties  that  Moses  ever  in- 
flicted. Afterwards,  in  the  war  between  the  Israelites  and 
the  Ammonites,  Balaam  was  slain. 

I  suppose  more  sermons  have  been  preached  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Balaam  than  on  almost  any  other  ;  and  yet  there  is 
a  great  deal  of  mystery  connected  with  this  story.     It  is  so 


328  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

different  from  the  ordinary  lines  of  modern  experience 
that  we  have  no  measures  or  rules  by  which  we  can  adju- 
dicate it.     It  stands  to  me  as  a  cloudy,  sublime  drama. 

Not  long  after  this  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Moses 
to  lay  aside  his  burdens.  You  will  remember  that  accord- 
ing to  the  statements  of  the  old  records  Moses  was  eighty 
3?"ears  of  age  when  he  went  out  to  deliver  his  brethren. 
He  had  never  been  with  them  until  he  was  about  forty 
years  of  age,  and  then  he  had  to  exile  himself  in  Midian. 
He  is  spoken  of  as  the  meekest  man,  though  not  in  the 
sense  in  which  we  understand  the  word  incck.  Indeed,  we 
have  no  equivalent  of  the  original  word  that  is  translated 
Dieek.  It  signifies  that  quality  which  ennobles  a  strong 
and  wise  man  in  the  continual  modesty  of  his  own  merit 
and  excellence.  You  will  bear  in  mind  how  disinterested 
he  was.  You  will  recollect  that  though  he  was  the  reputed 
son  of  the  Eg3"ptian  king,  though  he  was  a  member  of  the 
royal  family,  yet,  when  he  saw  his  own  people  oppressed, 
he  undertook  their  vindication,  he  lost  his  standing  at 
court,  and  was  driven  out.  How  faithfully  he  served  for 
many  years  his  father-in-law  Jethro,  we  know.  And  when 
he  was  called  of  God  to  serve  Him,  he  was  so  determined 
in  his  humble  opinion  of  himself  that  he  pled  and  pled 
and  pled  to  be  excused,  until  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was 
aroused  against  him.  And  when  he  at  last  yielded  to 
the  divine  wish,  he  besought  God  to  let  Aaron  be  the  real 
leader,  and  he  the  counselor.  Yet  at  every  step  he  was 
the  man  that  gathered  together  out  of  Egypt  and  out  of 
contemporaneous  nations  the  best  parts,  and  fitted  and 
molded  them  for  his  own  people.  He  was  the  center  of 
authority.  And  although  in  military  matters  Joshua  was 
the  general,  Moses  was,  after  all,  the  legislator  and  judge 
and  real  leader,  going  on  in  the  march  through  the  wilder- 
ness bearing  its  multiplied  cares  and  labors  until  at  last  he 
came  to  the  border  of  the  promise.d  land. 

And  now  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  him,  "Thou 
shalt  not  go  over."  He  had  been  telling  his  people  for 
forty  years  that   they  were  to  pass  to  a   land  of  milk  and 


hV  THE  LAXD  OF  MOAB.  329 

honey  which  had  been  promised  to  their  fathers.  It  was 
the  thought  of  his  life,  it  was  the  desire  and  the  mission  of 
his  soul,  having  piloted  the  people  so  long  and  so  far,  to  be 
permitted  to  introduce  them  into  the  promised  land  ;  and 
finally,  when  he  stood  over  against  that  land,  the  Lord 
said  unto  him,  ""  Thou  shalt  not  go  over."  He  is  the  pro- 
totype, the  representative,  of  those  noble  men  in  every  age 
who  have  wrought  all  their  life  long  to  pave  the  way  for 
the  success  of  those  that  came  after  them — of  the  men  that 
laid  right  foundations  ;  as  Luther,  who  died  without  see- 
ing the  results  of  his  labor  ;  of  men  who  perished  on  the 
scaffold  to  give  liberty  of  thought  to  their  fellow  men, 
dying  without  beholding  the  change  ;  of  missionaries  who 
planted  the  seeds  of  civilization  and  religion,  but  reaped 
none  of  the  fruits  of  those  seeds  ;  of  inventors  who  made 
valuable  discoveries,  and  died  poor  that  others  might  take 
what  they  had  accomplished  and  carry  it  out  to  success. 
The  victory  of  one  man  is  founded  on  the  defeat  of  a  pred- 
ecessor, time  and  time  again,  in  this  life. 

Now  Moses  had,  if  ever  any  man  had,  a  right  to  walk 
with  unabated  strength  and  undimmed  eye  across  the  bor- 
der and  into  the  promised  land.  But  God  said  to  him, 
"Get  thou  up  upon  the  top  of  Nebo."  It  was  probably 
the  same  mountain  top  from  which  Balaam  had  overlooked 
it.  There  God  showed  his  faithful  servant  a  vision  of 
the  promised  land,  not  in  a  dream,  but  by  a  visible  repre- 
sentation to  the  eye  that  understands  what  it  sees  ;  and 
there,  —  without  companion  or  spectator,  alone,  —  died 
Moses.  He  left  the  greatest  name  of  antiquity — for  per- 
sonal purity,  for  grandeur  of  conception,  for  wisdom  of 
judgment,  and  for  good  conduct  of  the  affairs  of  state  on 
the  largest  scale  during  the  longest  period — the  man  that 
laid  the  foundations  on  which  modern  commonwealths 
have  been  built.  He  stood  alone  ;  and  who  dying,  does 
not  stand  alone  ?  That  is  the  one  act  in  which  there  can 
be  no  companionsliip.  Though  a  million  are  around  about 
us,  the  moment  comes,  in  passing  away,  when  we  are  as 
solitary  as  if  we  dwelt  in  the  great  desert  of  Sahara,  or  in 


350  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

the  very  midst  of  the  ocean  itself  ;  and  if  Moses  had  given 
up  his  breath  to  God  surrounded  by  myriads  of  his  people 
he  would  have  been  as  much  alone  as  when  he  stood  upon 
the  summit  of  Mount  Nebo  on  the  top  of  Pisgah,  to  deliver 
up  his  soul.  He  was  buried  in  one  of  those  ravines  :  but 
no  man  knows  where. 

As  Moses  drew  near  to  the  appointed  bound  of  his  life 
he  gave  three  songs  to  literature,  but  one  of  which  I  shall 
recite  in  your  hearing.  He  gave  the  song  in  which  is 
recounted  the  history  of  God's  dealings  with  the  people  of 
Israel,  which  is  contained  in  the  thirty-second  chapter  of 
Deuteronomy  and  which  occupies  a  wide  space.  He  gave, 
also,  the  prophetic  song  describing  blessings  and  curses 
upon  the  tribes,  after  the  manner  of  Abraham  and  of  Jacob. 
He  likewise  gave  forth  the  grand  funeral  song  of  the  ages. 
Imagine  the  astonishment  he  must  have  felt  when  the  tid- 
ings came  that  he  must  needs  depart,  and  when,  seized 
with  a  poetic  fervor,  he  indited  this  Psalm  : — 
"Lord,  thou  hast  been  our  dwelling  place 
In  all  generations. 

Before  the  mountains  were  brought  forth, 
Or  ever  thou  hadst  formed  the  earth  and  the  world, 
Even  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  thou  art  (iod. 
Thou  turnest  man  to  destruction  ; 
And  sayest,  Return,  ye  children  of  men." 

He  had  seen  a  whole  generation  of  his  people  perish  in 
the  wilderness. 

"  For  a  thousand  years  in  thy  sight 
Are  but  as  yesterday  when  it  is  past, 
And  as  a  watch  in  the  night. 

Thou  carriest  them  away  as  with  a  flood ;  they  are  as  a  sleep : 
In  the  morning  they  are  like  grass  which  groweth  up. 
In  the  morning  it  flourisheth,  and  groweth  up; 
In  the  evening  it  is  cut  down,  and  withereth." 

When  children  look  forward,  how  long  the  years  are  ! 
When  they  become  old  men  and  look  hixck  across  the  great 
line  of  years,  how  short  those  years  are  !  How  slow  time 
pulsates,  to  the  young  !  How  like  an  arrow  it  flies,  to  the 
old  !  x\nd  where  has  there  ever  been  a  more  sublime 
expression  of  it  than  this  ? 


IN  THE  LAXD  OF  MOAB.  33 » 

"  For  we  are  consumed  by  thine  anger, 
And  by  thy  wrath  are  we  troubled. 
Thou  hast  set  our  iniquities  before  thee, 
Our  secret  sins  in  the  light  of  thy  countenance. 
For  all  our  days  are  passed  away  in  thy  wrath  : 
We  spend  our  years  as  a  tale  that  is  told. 
The  days  of  our  years  are  threescore  years  and  ten ; 
And  if  by  reason  of  strength  they  be  fourscore  years, 
Yet  is  their  strength  labor  and  sorrow ; 
For  it  is  soon  cut  off,  and  we  fly  away. 
Who  knoweth  the  power  of  thine  anger? 
Even  according  to  thy  fear,  so  is  thy  wrath. 

So  teach  us  to  number  our  days, 

That  we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom. 

Return,  O  Lord,  how  long  ? 

And  let  it  repent  thee  concerning  thy  servants. 

O  satisfy  us  early  with  thy  mercy  ; 

That  we  may  rejoice  and  be  glad  all  our  days." 

There  is  in  the  close  of  the  history  of  this  great  person- 
age,   Moses,  a  singular  parallel  to  the  doctrine  which  he 
taught  all  his   life  long.     Nowhere   would  he   allow  any 
visible  image  or  symbol  of  the  eternal  God  to  be  carved  or 
erected.     The  God  of  his  people  must  be  the  Invisible  One 
who  made  the  heaven  and  the  earth.     He  had  himself  been 
their   leader  ;    and  when  the  time  came  for  him  to  depart, 
he  would  withdraw   himself  absolutely  from   the  sight   of 
men.     They  should   not  have  even  his  bones  or  his  sepul- 
cher  to  materialize  or   to  worship.     So  when   he   died   he 
was  hidden,  and   the  people  never  knew  where   his   grave 
was.       Full   q\   years  and   full  of  honor,  his  natural  force 
was  not  diminished,  nor  was  his  eye  dimmed  ;  and  he  went 
out  of  sight.     As  the  old  prophet  Elijah  disappeared,  so 
his  great  precursor,  Moses,  disappeared  from  among  the 
people,  and  gave  them  no  chance  to  build  over  him  a  statue 
or  monument  around  which  they  could  gather  for  super- 
stitious   worship  ;     and    he    became    an    invisible    power. 
Having  taught  the  invisible  God,  he  was  caught  up  into 
His  presence,  and  became  himself  to  his  people  like  his 
God,  an  invisible  authority  which  should  lift  their  minds 
upward  and  not  downward. 


XYIII. 

CAMPAIGNS  OF  JOSHUA. 


It  is  somewhat  perilous  for  men  to  examine  certain  parts 
of  the  Old  Testament.  They  who  do  it  have  to  carry 
burdens.  If  we  do  it  not,  however,  we  need  not  think  that 
it  will  not  be  done.  There  are  more  and  more  men  read- 
ing the  Old  Testament  in  critical  mood  and  expressing 
themselves  unfavorably  in  respect  to  it,  and  the  public 
mind  is  being  filled  with  conflicting  ideas  regarding  its 
contents.  Therefore,  it  is  a  part  of  the  duty  of  every  man 
w^ho  ministers  to  an  intelligent  and  reflecting  congrega- 
tion to  grapple  with  facts.  This  I  have  been  attempting  ; 
and  I  confess,  to-night,  that  in  the  cursory  rather  than 
critical  examination  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament 
which  I  have  been  making  with  you  through  the  past  few 
months,  I  have  encountered  difficulties  the  most  serious. 

I  may  say,  honestly,  that  I  am  not  myself  content  with 
the  result  of  my  own  examinations  of  the  subjects  to  which 
I  have  called  your  attention.  After  every  consideration 
that  I  can  bring  to  bear  upon  them,  there  are  parts  of  this 
history  that  leave  on  my  mind  a  very  sad  and  mournful 
impression.  Honesty  requires  me  to  say  so  much.  I 
would  not  willingly  deceive  you.  Not  for  the  world  would 
I  say  I  believe  a  thing  when  I  do  not  believe  it ;  nor  w^ould 
I  urge  you  to  believe  wdiat  I  do  not  myself  believe.  I  try 
to  be  honest  with  you  ;  and  perhaps  on  that  account  you 
will  be  the  more  ready  to  listen  to  me,  when  I  say  that  my 
difficulties  lie  further  back,  in  the  main,  than  those  which 
are  ordinarily  alleged,  and  that  the  usual  difficulties  are  to 
a  certain    extent  susceptible    of    explanation    which,  if  it 


.Sunday  evening,  March  23,  1879.     I-r.ssoN  :  Psa.  cxxxv. 


CAMPAIGNS  OF  JOSHUA.  333 

does  not  cure,  certainly  alleviates.     Alleviation  is  the  most 
I  can  promise  to-night. 

We  will  consider  this  evening  a  portion  of  the  military 
campaigns  of  Joshua.  We  closed,  last  Sunday  night,  the 
account  of  the  leadership  of  that  great  and  noble  man, 
Moses.  After  he  had  received  the  warning  of  God  that  his 
time  was  come,  he  called,  appointed,  and  consecrated  or 
ordained  Joshua  (in  Hebrew,  Yehoshua,  Jehovah  helps)  to 
take  his  place.  Moses  had  instituted  a  great  policy,  but 
the  carrying  out  of  that  policy  required  military  adminis- 
tration. Joshua  appears  to  have  been  by  nature,  and  also 
by  experience,  a  notable  general,  and  his  name  must  rank 
among  the  great  military  geniuses  of  history. 

It  was  under  his  command,  all  the  way  through  the 
wilderness,  that  the  Israelitish  armies  were  able  to  beat  off 
the  assaults  made  upon  them  by  the  Midianites,  and  by  the 
other  adversaries  east  of  the  Jordan,  and  to  take  possession 
of  the  whole  country  of  Canaan  afterwards. 

Before  entering  into  some  account  of  the  campaigns  of 
Joshua,  let  me  ask  your  attention  to  what  may  be  called  the 
military  commission  of  Moses  recorded  in  the  twentieth 
chapter  of  Deuteronomy.  You  will  perceive  here  perhaps 
the  most  extraordinary  mixture  of  humanity  and  severity 
that  is  found  in  literature  : — 

"When  thou  goest  out  to  battle  against  thine  enemies,  and  seest  horses 
and  chariots,  and  a  people  more  than  thou,  be  not  afraid  of  them :  for 
Jehovah  thy  God  is  with  thee,  which  brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt.  And  ic  shall  be,  when  ye  are  come  nigh  unto  the  battle,  that  the 
priests  shall  approach  and  speak  unto  the  people  [now  look  at  the  tender- 
ness and  the  humanity  that  are  here  exhibited],  and  shall  say  unto  them, 
Hear,  O  Israel,  ye  approach  this  day  unto  battle  against  your  enemies : 
let  not  your  hearts  faint,  fear  not,  and  do  not  tremble,  neither  be  ye  terrified 
because  of  them  ;  for  Jehovah  your  God  is  he  that  goeth  with  you,  to  fight 
for  you  against  vour  enemies,  to  save  you.  And  the  officers  shall  speak 
unto  the  people/saying,  What  man  is  there  that  hath  built  a  new  house,  and 
hath  not  dedicated  it?  Let  him  go  and  return  to  his  house,  lest  he  die  in 
the  battle,  and  another  man  dedicate  it." 

That  is  as  beautiful  a  piece  of  poetic  humanity  as  is  any- 
where recorded.  It  is  as  if  it  were  said,  Where  a  young 
man  has  just  laid  the  foundation  of  his  house,  do  not  de- 


Jj4 


BIBLE  S  IT  DIES. 


stroy  him  ;  let  him  go  out  of  the  battle,  and  return  to  his 
home  ;  there  are  enough  to  take  his  place. 

"And  what  man  is  he  that  hath  planted  a  vineyard,  and  hath  not  yet  eaten 
of  it?  Let  him  also  go  and  return  unto  his  house,  lest  he  die  in  the  battle, 
and  another  man  eat  of  it." 

That,  too,  betokens  tender-hearted  kindness  in  brooding 
over  and  caring  for  young  life. 

"And  what  man  is  there  that  hath  betrothed  a  wife,  and  hath  not  taken  her  ? 
let  him  go  and  return  unto  his  house,  lest  he  die  in  the  battle,  and  another 
man  take  her." 

He  that  hath  dwelt  with  the  woman  of  his  love  through 
a  score  of  years  has  a  thousand  memories  and  associations 
that  are  more  precious  than  those  of  a  young  man  ;  never- 
theless, the  universal  feeling  of  the  race  is  that  when  love 
first  blossoms,  and  the  young  are  about  to  establish  a 
household,  that  is  one  of  the  most  exquisite  phases  of  expe- 
rience in  human  life  ;  and  the  law^giver  put  his  command 
over  it  and  protected  it,  by  saying,  Do  not  let  such  a  man 
go  to  battle  and  be  slain. 

"And  the  officers  shall  speak  further  unto  the  people,  and  they  shall  say, 
What  man  is  there  that  is  fearful  and  faint-hearted  ?  let  him  go  and  return 
unto  his  house,  lest  his  brethren's  heart  faint  as  well  as  his  heart." 

There  was  not  only  wisdom  in  guarding  against  the 
contagion  of  panic  fear,  but  humanity  toward  the  man  who 
was  without  physical  courage.  There  are  a  great  many 
men  who  have  no  backbone  ;  and  they  are  men,  too.  They 
did  not  make  themselves.  They  did  not  pick  out  the 
qualities  that  were  to  be  put  into  the  machinery  of  their 
minds.  And  if  a  man  was  by  nature  wanting  in  this  re- 
spect, it  shows  the  humanity  of  the  old  Mosaic  code  that 
it  protected  him.  Such  men  are  not  protected  in  modern 
times  very  much. 

"And  it  shall  be,  when  the  officers  have  made  an  end  of  speaking  unto 
the  people,  that  they  shall  make  captains  of  the  armies  to  lead  the  people." 

And  I  must  not  fail  to  add  one  other  command  of  tliis 
extraordinary  charge,  which  occurs  at  the  end  of  it. 

"  When  thou  shalt  besiege  a  city  a  long  time,  in  making  war  against  it  to 
take  it,  thou  shalt  not  destroy  the  trees  thereof  by  forcnig  an  axe  against 


CAMrJ/GXS  OF  JOSHUA.  335 

them  :  for  thou  mayest  eat  of  them,  and  thou  shalt  not  cut  them  down  (for 
the  tree  of  the  field  is  man's  life)  to  eniploy  them  in  the  siege  :  only  the 
trees  which  thou  knowest  that  they  be  not  trees  for  meat,  thou  shalt  destroy 
and  cut  them  down;  and  thou  shalt  build  bulwarks  against  the  city  that 
maketh  war  with  thee,  until  it  be  subdued." 

When  the  Prussians  surrounded  Paris,  their  lines  lay 
among  grounds  and  gardens  that  had  in  them  all  sorts  of 
flowers  and  plants  and  beautiful  things  that  had  been 
handed  down  from  father  to  son  in  their  magnificence,  and 
these  were  all  swept  away  b}^  the  besom  of  destruction  ; 
but  Moses  commanded  that  when  a  city  was  besieged  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  it,  no  trees  that  bore  fruit  that  men 
lived  upon  should  be  destroyed.  He  required  that  there 
should  be  tenderness  shown  to  trees,  even. 

That  quality  of  compassion  reigns  through  the  Mosaic 
economy.  The  internal  history  of  the  Israelites  develops 
the  most  exquisite  portrayals  of  gentleness,  and  sweetness, 
and  patience,  and  disinterestedness,  and  humanity.  There- 
fore, the  contrast  is  the  more  striking  when  you  find 
coupled  with  them  gross  barbarities. 

"  When  thou  comest  nigh  unto  a  city  to  fight  against  it  [that  is  to  say,  alien 
cities],  then  proclaim  peace  unto  it.  And  it  shall  be,  if  it  make  thee  answer 
of  peace,  and  open  unto  thee,  then  it  shall  be,  that  all  the  people  that  is 
found  therein  shall  be  tributaries  unto  thee,  and  they  shall  serve  thee. 
And  if  it  will  make  no  peace  with  thee,  but  will  make  war  against  thee,  then 
thou  shalt  besiege  it:  and  when  Jehovah  thy  God  hath  delivered  it  into  thine 
hands,  thou  shalt  smite  every  male  thereof  with  the  edge  of  the  sword  :  but 
the  women,  and  the  little  ones,  and  the  cattle,  and  all  that  is  in  the  city, 
even  all  the  spoil  thereof,  shalt  thou  take  unto  thyself;  and  thou  shalt  eat 
the  spoil  of  thine  enemies,  which  Jehovah  thy  God  hath  given  thee.  Thus 
shalt  thou  do  unto  all  the  cities  which  are  very  far  off  from  thee,  which  are 
not  of  the  cities  of  these  nations.  But  of  the  cities  of  these  people,  which 
Jehovah  thy  God  doth  give  thee  for  an  inheritance,  thou  shalt  save  alive 
nothing  that  breatheth  :  but  thou  shalt  utterly  destroy  them  ;  namely,  the 
Hittites,  and  the  Amorites,  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Perizzites,  the  Hivites, 
and  the  Jebusites ;  as  Jehovah  thy  God  hath  commanded  thee." 

Absolute,  murderous  annihilation  to  all  cities,  without 
exception,  situated  westward  of  the  Jordan,  was  the  stern 
command  of  Moses;  and  this  was  the  commission  of  war 
which  he  gave  to  Joshua.     But  now  hear  the  reason  for  it : — 


336  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

"That  they  teach  you  not  to  do  after  all  their  abominations,  which  they 
have  done  unto  their  gods  ;  so  should  ye  sin  against  Jehovah  your  God." 

In  pursuance  of  this  command  Joshua  entered  upon  the 
work  faithfully  and  very  successfully.  An  account  of  the 
campaign  against  the  Midianites  is  narrated  in  the  thirty- 
first  chapter  of  Numbers. 

"  Jehovah  spake  unto  Moses,  saying,  Avenge  the  children  of  Israel  of  the 
Midianites :  afterward  shalt  thou  be  gathered  unto  thy  people." 

Every  tribe  gave  a  thousand  men.  The  Midianites  rep- 
resented the  Bedouin  Arabs.  They  were  a  shepherd  people 
yet.  They  wxre  addicted  to  war  yet.  Like  other  tribes 
of  the  desert  they  were  armed  with  spears.  Portions  of 
them  inhabited  the  Sinaitic  peninsula,  and  they  stretched 
eastward  to  the  south  and  east  of  Canaan  as  far  as  Moab  ; 
and  you  will  remember  that  it  was  with  the  Midianites  that 
Balak  the  Moabite  conspired,  first  to  attack,  and  then — 
warned  from  that  by  Balaam's  blessing  instead  of  cursing 
— to  seduce,  the  Israelites.  Dwelling  quietly,  at  this  par- 
ticular time,  they  were  not  prepared  for  an  attack  ;  and 
with  about  thirteen  thousand  men  Joshua  dashed  into  their 
midst  and  slew  the  five  kings  of  Midian  ;  and  in  this  battle 
Balaam  was  also  slain. 

"And  the  children  of  Israel  took  all  the  women  of  Midian  captives,  and 
their  little  ones,  and  took  the  spoil  of  all  their  cattle,  and  all  their  flocks, 
and  all  their  goods.  And  they  burnt  all  their  cities  wherein  they  dwelt,  and 
all  their  goodly  castles,  with  fire.  And  they  took  all  the  spoil,  and  all  the 
prey,  both  of  men  and  of  beasts. 

"And  they  brought  the  captives,  and  the  prey,  and  the  spoil,  unto  Moses, 
and  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  unto  the  congregation  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
unto  the  camp  at  the  plains  of  Moab,  which  are  by  Jordan  near  Jericho. 
And  Moses,  and  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  all  the  princes  of  the  congregation, 
went  forth  to  meet  them  without  the  camp.  And  Moses  was  wroth  with  the 
othcers  of  the  host,  with  the  captains  over  thousands,  and  captains  over 
hundreds,  which  came  from  the  battle.  And  Moses  said  unto  them.  Have 
ve  saved  all  the  women  alive  ?  Behold,  these  caused  the  children  of  Israel, 
through  the  counsel  of  Balaam,  to  commit  trespass  against  Jehovah  in  the 
matter  of  Peor,  and  there  was  a  plague  among  the  congregation  of  Jehovah. 
Now  therefore  kill  every  male  among  the  little  ones,  and  kill  every  woman 
that  hath  known  man  by  lying  with  him.  But  all  the  women  children, 
that  have  not  known  a  man  by  lying  with  him.  keep  alive  for  yourselves. 
And  do  ye  abide  without  the  camp  seven  days  :  whosoever  hath  killed  any 


CAMPAIGNS  OF  JOSHUA.  337 

person,  and  whosoever  hath  touched  any  slain,  purify  both  yourselves  and 
your  captives  on  the  third  day,  and  on  the  seventh  day." 

After  having  touched  a  dead  body  they  had  to  abide 
seven  days  outside  to  purify  themselves  ;  but  after  having 
slaughtered  all  the  men,  all  the  boys,  and  all  the  women 
with  the  exception  of  the  children  girls,  they  felt  no  com- 
punction w^hatever  !  * 

Having  cleared  their  way  by  conflicts  with  the  tribes  on 
the  east  of  the  Jordan,  —  the  Amorites  ;  Sihon,  king  of 
Heshbon;  and  Og,  king  of  Bashan, — they  crossed  the  Jordan 
and  encamped  at  Gilgal.  At  that  point,  it  is  said,  the 
manna  ceased  to  fall,  and  they  ate  of  the  grain  of  the  coun- 
try. 

There  is  here  a  gem  interposed  such  as  you  find  not  infre- 
quently in  the  fragmentary  records  of  the  Old  Testament, 
without  any  prelude  to  explain  it.  We  have  a  remarkable 
episode  in  respect  to  Joshua. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Joshua  was  by  Jericho,  that  he  lifted  up  his 
eyes  and  looked,  and,  behold,  there  stood  a  man  over  against  him  with  his 
sword  draw-n  in  his  hand :  and  Joshua  went  unto  him,  and  said  unto  him, 
Art  thou  for  us,  or  for  our  adversaries }  And  he  said.  Nay ;  but  as  captain 
of  the  host  of  Jehovah  am  I  now  come.  And  Joshua  fell  on  his  face  to  the 
earth,  and  did  worship,  and  said  unto  him,  What  saith  my  lord  unto  his 
servant }  And  the  captain  of  Jehovah's  host  said  unto  Joshua,  Loose  thv 
shoe  from  off  thy  foot:  for  the  place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy.  And 
Joshua  did  so." 

That  is  the  whole  story.  If  you  say,  ''  That  is  an  actual 
historical  fact,"  it  is  rather  a  remarkable  fact  that  an  aneel 
of  the  Lord  should  come  to  Joshua,  and  tell  him  to  take 
his  shoes  off,  and  leave  him  without  saying  anything  more  ; 
but  if  you  give  to  it  a  higher  meaning  it  is  something  sub- 


*This  rough  surgery  for  afoul  and  deadly  disease,  however,  was  enforced 
by  Moses  with  equal  severity  upon  the  Israelites  themselves.  When  the 
Israelites  at  Peor  yielded  to  the  seductions  of  the  daughters  of  Moab  and 
united  in  their  licentious  worship  of  their  gods,  Moses  commanded  :  "  Take 
all  the  chiefs  of  the  people  and  hang  them  up  unto  Jehovah  before  the  sun, 
that  the  fierce  anger  of  Jehovah  may  turn  away  from  Israel."  And  more- 
over a  punitive  "  plague  "  slew  "  twenty  and  four  thousand  "  of  the  children 
of  Israel.  Numbers  xxv.  1-9. — Editor. 
32 


338  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

lime.  If  Joshua  slumbered,  if  his  soul  was  working  upon 
the  great  task  that  had  been  given  him  to  accomplish, — the 
conquest  of  Palestine, — and  if  in  his  sleep  there  seemed 
to  come  to  him  the  great  captain  of  Jehovah's  host,  saying 
to  him,  "Thou  art  on  a  holy  spot,"  and  then  disappearing, 
that  would  be  sublime  as  a  vision  of  the  night.  When  he 
rose  in  the  morning,  without  a  doubt  he  said,  "  I  have  seen 
the  messenger  of  Jehovah,  and  I  know  it  is  a  sacred  cause 
to  which  I  am  called." 

It  was  by  visions  that  men  of  old  thought  they  received 
messages  from  God  ;  and  doubtless  some  of  their  visions 
were  divine  messages  :  but  dreams  are  very  uncertain  mes- 
sengers, and  while  some  of  them  might  have  carried  the 
truth  some  of  them  might  have  carried  errors. 

Next  (and  I  have  omitted  a  great  deal  that  belongs  to  this 
history,  because  it  is  not  pertinent,  particularly,  to  the  line 
of  difhculties  which  I  am  treating  to-night)  comes  the  fall 
of  Jericho,  described  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  the  Book  of 
Joshua.  The  people  were  to  make  a  procession  around  the 
city  for  seven  days,  on  the  last  day  compassing  the  city 
seven  times  ;  then  the  priests  were  to  blow  the  trumpets, 
and  the  people  were  to  shout  ;  and  then  the  walls  of  the 
city  would  fall.  The  command  was'  obeyed,  and  the  city 
was  taken  possession  of,  and  all  that  were  in  it  were  utterly 
destroyed  with  the  edge  of  the  sword, — man  and  woman, 
young  and  old,  ox,  and  sheep,  and  ass, — with  the  following 
exceptions  : — 

"Joshua  had  said  unto  the  two  men  that  had  spied  out  the  country,  Go 
into  the  harlot's  house  [the  woman  who  had  harbored  two  Israelitish  scouts 
and  helped  them  to  escape,  and  to  whom  they  had  sworn  to  protect  her 
when  their  armies  should  come],  and  bring  out  thence  the  woman,  and  all 
that  she  hath,  as  ye  sware  unto  her.  And  the  young  men  that  were  spies 
went  in,  and  brought  out  Rahab,  and  her  father,  and  her  mother,  and  her 
brethren,  and  all  that  she  had  ;  and  they  brought  out  all  her  kindred,  and 
left  them  without  the  camp  of  Israel.  And  they  burnt  the  city  with  fire, 
and  all  that  was  therein :  only  the  silver,  and  the  gold,  and  the  vessels  of- 
brass  and  of  iron,  they  put  into  the  treasury  of  the  house  of  the  Lord." 

Such  was  the  destruction  of  Jericho. 

In  the  eighth  chapter  of  Joshua  we  have  an  account  of 


CAMPAIGA'S  OF  JOSHUA.  339 

the  siege  and  overthrow  of  Ai.  It  seems  that  in  the  de- 
struction of  Jericho  a  man  named  Achan  had  purloined 
and  hidden  gold.  It  was  not  exactly  defalcation  ;  it  was 
the  primitive  form  of  that  which  we  do  in  our  time  far 
more  skillfully.  It  was  converting  to  private  use  that 
which  had  been  devoted  to  the  general  treasury.  It  was 
counted  a  great  sin  then — a  sin  sufficient  to  bring  down 
upon  the  Israelites  divine  punishment ;  because  it  was  direct 
disobedience  of  orders  issued  in  the  divine  name.  In  this 
case  it  was  found  out,  and  retribution  followed.  For 
Joshua  sent  up  only  about  three  thousand  men  against  Ai ; 
and  the  inhabitants  came  out  and  drove  them  off,  and  slew 
a  great  many  of  them  ;  and  Joshua  cast  himself  down  be- 
fore the  Lord,  and  mourned,  and  said  : — 

"O  Lord,  what  shall  I  say,  when  Israel  turneth  their  backs  before  their 
enemies  !  " 

That  was  a  striking  manifestation  of  patriotic  feeling, 

in  which  he  identified  himself  with  the  cause  of  God  and 

his  people,  and  took  the  shame  of  their  cowardice  upon 

himself. 

"For  the  Canaanites  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  shall  hear  of  it, 
and  shall  environ  us  round,  and  cut  off  our  name  from  the  earth  :  and 
what  wilt  thou  do  unto  thy  great  name?" 

He  had  thrown  himself  down  on  the  very  ground  in  his 
mortification  ;  and  it  is  rather  remarkable,  the  way  in 
which  God  is  represented  as  having  looked  upon  a  man 
crawling  on  tjie  earth  as  a  worm. 

"And  the  Lord  said  unto  Joshua,  Get  thee  up  ;  wherefore  liest  thou  thus 
upon  thy  face  ? " 

A  great  many  men  seem  to  think  that  God  likes  them  if 
the}?^  wallow  ;  but  God  does  not  like  to  see  a  man  behave 
himself  unseemly  any  more  than  we  do.  Men  recount 
their  sins,  and  bemoan  their  unworthiness,  and  tell  what 
worms  they  are  ;  but  God  would  say  to  those  who  carry 
their  humility  to  a  morbid  extreme,  "  Get  up  !  wherefore 
do  you  lie  thus  upon  your  faces?" 

Then  followed  the  discovery  that  Achan  had  taken  and 
hidden  for  himself  portions  of  ''the  devoted   thing"  com- 


340 


BIBLE  STUDIES. 


manded  to  be  cast  into  the  treasury  of  Jehovah  from  out 
of  the  spoil  of  Jericho  ;  and  the  stoning  and  burning  of 
Achan  and,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  of  all 
his  family  and  possessions.  Thus,  the  nation  having  been 
purged  of  its  disobedience,  Joshua  was  once  more  inspired 
with  courage  and  a  better  wisdom  for  the  battle. 

Regarding  himself  as  in  communication  with  the  divine 
Spirit,  and  acting  in  accordance  with  a  new  plan,  which  he 
accepted  as  an  order  of  God,  Joshua  laid  an  ambush  for 
Ai.  He  sent  some  thirty  thousand  men  secretly,  at  night, 
to  lie  over  behind,  on  the  north  side  of  it.  The  next  morn- 
ing, with  five  thousand  under  his  command,  he  approached 
the  city  as  aforetime,  and,  as  before,  the  people  of  Ai  rushed 
out  into  battle.  Then  Joshua,  making  a  feint  of  defeat, 
took  his  men  off  nimbly  ;  and  the  men  of  Ai  ran  after 
them,  when  Joshua  stretched  toward  the  city  the  spear  he 
had  in  his  hand,  and  the  ambush  arose  quickly  out  of  their 
place,  and  ran  into  the  city  from  behind,  took  possession 
of  It,  and  set  fire  to  it.  And  as  the  men  of  Ai,  seeing  the 
city  in  flames  behind  them,  started  homeward,  the  Israel- 
itish  host  closed  in  on  them,  and  between  their  two  bodies 
ground  the  enemy  to  powder.  The  king  of  Ai  was  taken 
alive  and  brought  to  Joshua,  and  was  hanged. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Israel  had  made  an  end  of  slaying  all  the 
inhabitants  of  Ai  in  the  field,  in  the  wilderness  wherein  they  chased  them, 
and  when  they  were  all  fallen  on  die  edge  of  the  sword,  until  they  were 
consumed,  that  all  the  Israelites  returned  unto  Ai,  and  smote  it  with  the 
edge  of  the  sword.  And  so  it  was,  that  all  that  fell  that  day,  both  of  men 
and  women,  were  twelve  thousand,  even  all  the  men  of  Ai.  For  Joshua 
drew  not  his  hand  back,  wherewith  he  stretched  out  the  spear,  until  he  had 
utterly  destroyed  all  the  inhabitants  of  Ai.  Only  the  cattle  and  the  spoil  of 
that  city  Israel  took  for  a  prey  unto  themselves,  according  unto  the  word 
of  ihe  Lord  which  he  commanded  Joshua.  And  Joshua  burnt  Ai,  and 
made  it  an  heap  forever,  even  a  desolation  unto  this  day.  And  the  king  of 
Ai  he  hanged  on  a  tree  until  eventide  :  and  as  soon  as  the  sun  was  down, 
Joshua  commanded  that  tliey  should  take  his  carcass  down  from  the  tree, 
and  cast  it  at  the  entering  of  the  gate  of  the  city,  and  raise  thereon  a  great' 
heap  of  stones,  that  remainetli  unto  this  day." 

There  is  the  account  of  the  destruction  of  Ai.     Follow- 
ing this  came  the  erection   of  an  altar  of  thanksgiving  to 


CAMPAIGNS  OF  JOSHUA.  34  r 

Jehovah  in  Mount  Ebal,  and  the  reading  of  the  blessings 
and  cursings  of  the  Law  to  the  people  assembled  before 
that  hill  and  Mount  Gerizim,  in  the  heart  of  the  country 
where  Jacob  digged  his  famous  well,  and  where  Shechem, 
Samaria,  and  other  later  names  made  a  locality  second  in 
notability  only  to  Jerusalem.  The  fame  of  Jericho  and  Ai 
had  gone  abroad  in  the  land,  and  the  kings  or  chiefs  of  all 
the  country  round  about  and  beyond  Jordan  "  gathered 
themselves  together,  to  fight  with  Joshua  and  with  Israel." 

Next  comes  a  pretty  piece  of  strategy.  It  seems  that 
the  captains  of  Gibeon — a  city  greater  than  Ai — had  more 
policy  than  courage,  or  else  they  had  more  sagacity  ;  for, 
being  satisfied  in  their  minds  that  the  Israelites  were  going 
to  overrun  and  take  possession  of  the  land,  they  summoned 
their  chief  men,  they  clad  them  in  their  old  clothes,  they 
put  on  their  feet  shoes  that  were  clouted  and  worn,  they 
provided  mould)^  bread  for  their  haversacks,  and,  unshaved 
and  in  every  way  disfigured,  they  went  as  a  deputation  to 
Joshua,  and  said,  "We,  of  a  far-off  nation,  have  heard  that 
God  is  with  this  people,  and  that  they  are  going  to  be 
triumphant,  and  we  desire  to  make  peace  and  enter  into  a 
covenant  with  them." 

Joshua,  well  pleased  with  their  message,  and  seeing  on 
looking  into  their  pouches  what  sort  of  bread  they  were 
munching,  and  being  satisfied,  on  beholding  their  worn-out 
shoes  and  clothes,  that  they  had  come  a  great  distance, 
entered  into  a  covenant  with  them  that  he  would  defend 
them,  and  never  in  any  way  assault  them.  Though  it  came 
out  after  two  or  three  days  who  they  were,  it  is  to  the 
honor  of  Joshua  that  he  kept  his  word.  Still,  though  he 
did  not  destroy  them,  he  made  the  Gibeonites  to  be  hewers 
of  wood  and  drawers  of  water. 

As  soon  as  it  was  known  to  the  Amorites  throughout 
Palestine  and  the  region  to  the  southeast  of  the  Dead  Sea 
that  the  Gibeonites  had  made  peace  with  Joshua,  and 
betrayed  their  country's  cause,  the  five  great  kings  of  that 
land  determined  that  they  would  sweep  away  Gibeon  at 
once  ;  and  they  called  together  their  men  of  war  in  great 


34^!  BIBLE  S'J'UDIES. 

numbers,  and  drew  near  to  the  city,  surrounding  it.  Ttie 
Gibeonites  sent  to  Joshua,  imploring  him  to  come  to  their 
succor;  and  lie  went  all  night  from  Gilgal,  came  suddenly 
npon  the  five  lyings,  defeated  them,  and  chased  them  to  the 
south,  to  the  west,  to  the  east,  and  to  the  northwest.  A 
great  many  people  escaped  into  their  fenced  cities  ;  and 
the  five  lyings  took  refuge  in  the  cave  of  Makkedah,  some- 
what to  the  southwest  of  Jericho,  Gilgal,  and  Ai, 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Joshua  and  the  children  of  Israel  had  made 
an  end  of  slaving  them  with  a  very  great  slaughter,  till  they  were  consumed, 
that  the  rest  which  remained  of  them  entered  into  fenced  cities.  And  all  the 
people  returned  to  the  camp  to  Joshua  at  Makkedah  in  peace  :  none  moved 
his  tongue  against  any  of  the  children  of  Israel.  Then  said  Joshua,  Open 
the  mouth  of  the  cave,  and  bring  out  those  five  kings  unto  me  out  of  the 
cave.  And  they  did  so,  and  brought  forth  those  five  kings  unto  him  out 
of  the  cave,  the  king  of  Jerusalem,  the  king  of  Hebron,  the  king  of  Jarmuth, 
the  king  of  Lachish,  and  the  king  of  Eglon. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  when  they  brought  out  those  kings  unto  Joshua, 
that  Joshua  called  for  all  the  men  of  Israel,  and  said  unto  the  captains  of 
the  men  of  war  which  went  with  him,  Come  near,  put  your  feet  upon  the 
necks  of  these  kings.  And  they  came  near,  and  put  their  feet  upon  the 
necks  of  them.  And  Joshua  said  unto  them,  Fear  not,  nor  be  dismayed,  be 
strong  and  gf  good  courage  :  for  thus  shall  Jehovah  do  to  all  your  enemies 
against  whom  ye  fight.  And  afterward  Joshua  smote  them,  and  slew  them, 
and  hanged  them  on  five  trees  :  and  they  were  hanging  upon  the  trees  until 
the  evening.  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  time  of  the  going  down  of  the  sun, 
that  Joshua  commanded,  and  they  took  them  down  off  the  trees,  and  cast 
them  into  the  cave  wherein  they  had  been  hid,  and  laid  great  stones  in  the 
cave's  mouth,  which  remain  until  this  very  day." 

After  this  comes  the  narration  of  the  confederacy  in  the 
North.  By  this  time  Joshua  had,  wdth  his  battles,  pretty 
nearly  subdued  Judah,  the  land  which  afterwards  became 
Judea.  It  was  a  work  which,  although  it  is  narrated  in  a 
few  chapters,  went  through  sevei"al  years.  It  was  about 
seven  years  before  Joshua  brought  to  an  end  his  cam- 
paigns, and  took  possession  of  the  whole  land. 

After  these  campaigns  in  central  Palestine,  five  more 
"  kings  "  in  the  extreme  north  gathered  themselves  near  the 
waters  of  Merom — a  small  lake  north  of  Gennesaret.  It  is 
a  little  to  the  south  of  the  source  of  the  Jordan,  lying,  there- 
fore, at  the  very  foot  of  Mount  Lebanon.     Here  Joshua 


CAMPAIGNS  OF  JOSHUA.  343 

entered  into  battle  with  the  five  kings  of  the  North,  and 
utterly  defeated  them,  and  drove  them  hel.ter-skelter, 
slaughtered  the  host,  took  their  cities  and  destroyed  the 
inhabitants  of  them,  and  in  many  cases  swept  away  the 
oxen,  the  horses,  all  living  things.  From  the  beginning  to 
the  end,  through  six  years,  an  annihilating  campaign  was 
carried  on  by  Joshua,  and  it  is  alleged  that  at  every  step 
he  was  acting  under  the  instruction  of  God. 

The  first  difficulty  that  occurs  to  me  in  regard  to  this 
whole  matter  is  the  right  of  the  Israelites  to  take  Palestine, 
anyhow.     It  is  said  that  God  had  a  right  to  parcel  out  the 
inhabitants  of  the  land  as  he  pleased  ;  and  if  there  was  any 
evidence  of  a  divine  plan  by  which  men  were  elected  ac- 
cordino-  to  their  merit  this  would  be  an  entirely  adequate 
answer.     The  power  of  God  to  act  justly  toward  nations 
or   individuals  no   man  denies.     I   aver   that  the  right  of 
.  God  always  moves  w^ithin  the  lines  of  justice  and  of  truth. 
The  rio-ht  of  God  to  do  as  he  has  a  mind  to  is  to  be  admitted 
when  the  mind   of  God  is  represented  as  doing  right,  but 
under  no  other  circumstances.     God   has  no  right  to   be 
selfish, — less  than  any  other  being  in  the  universe.     God 
has  no  right  to  be  cruel, — less  than  any  other  being  in  the 
universe.     God   has  no  right  to  lie, — less  than  any  other 
being  in  the  universe.     He  is  the  Head,  the  Exemplar  ;  and 
by  as  much  as  he  is  superior  to  all  other  beings  he  is  included 
in  those  laws  which  he  lays  upon  men.     If  he  lays  upon  them 
the  laws  of  justice,  and  kindness,  and  truth,  and  humanity, 
he  himself  is  bound  by  those  laws  ;  and  to  allege  injustice, 
cruelty,  falsity,  and   inhumanity  as  coming  from  the  in- 
spiration of  God  seems  to  me,  to  speak  moderately,  a  very 
great  inconsistency. 

That  there  were  wise  reasons  for  dispersing  the  inhab- 
itants of  Palestine  I  do  not  deny  ;  I  rather  lean  to  the 
impression  that  there  were  such  reasons  :  but  not  on  the 
general  ground  that  God  has  a  right  to  do  with  his  own 
people  what  he  pleases.  I  do  not  believe  God  thought 
only  of  the  Israelites.  There  were  millions  upon  millions 
of  men  on  the  earth  ;  and  do  you  suppose  God  did  not  care 


344  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

for  all  of  them  ?  Is  it  your  belief  that  when  he  looked 
forth  upon  the  world  the  only  people  he  saw  were  the 
Israelites  ?  That  is  the  quintessence  of  national  vanity  for 
the  Jews  ;  and  for  us,  of  superstition.  We  are  not  to  sup- 
pose that  a  thing  was  right  merely  because  it  favored  the 
Israelites  ;  and  yet,  that  was  their  national  feeling,  carried 
to  an  unjustifiable  although  perhaps  natural  extent.  That 
it  was  within  the  divine  purpose  so  to  separate  one  people 
from  all  others  that  it  should  become  a  schoolmaster  of 
generations  is  an  idea  not  unworthy  of  our  conception  as 
a  part  of  God's  plan  ;  and  that,  in  order  to  the  carrying 
out  of  that  purpose,  it  was  necessary  that  they  should  be 
penned  up,  as  it  were,  where  they  would  not  be  unduly 
exposed  to  those  temptations  to  which  all  mankind  in  that 
age  of  the  world  were  liable,  I  can  conceive  to  be  rational  : 
but  to  say  that,  to  the  end  that  there  might  be  in  Palestine 
a  school  of  which  the  Israelites  should  be  the  teachers,  the 
other  nations  must  be  driven  out,  and  that  if  they  would 
not  go  out  they  must  be  exterminated,  is  to  appeal  neither 
to  reason  nor  to  common  sense. 

I  am  not  satisfied  with  the  theory  that  God  has  the  same 
"  right  "  to  exterminate  nations  by  the  hands  of  other 
nations  that  he  has  to  destroy  men  by  earthquakes  and  pes- 
tilences. Destruction  by  these  latter  causes  falls  out  under 
God's  great  natural  lavv's.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  he 
would  make  men  executioners  of  destruction.  It  would 
not  seem  to  be  a  very  wise  method  of  preparing  them  for 
the  Coming  of  Christ,  for  greater  humanity,  and  for  wiser 
civility.  And  yet  there  are  those  who  justify  the  above 
reasoning  on  the  ground  that  there  must  be  means  for  the 
accomplishment  of  ends.  They  sa}',  for  instance,  "  If  men 
are  to  go  to  school  there  must  be  a  schoolhouse  ;  and  if 
that  schoolhouse  is  infested  by  people  who  interfere  with 
its  legitimate  use,  and  they  refuse  to  depart,  they  must  be 
removed."  But  that  does  not  justify  revenge.  Moses 
charged  the  people  to  wipe  out  the  remembrance  of 
Amalek.  They  were  to  do  it  by  way  of  retaliation.  It 
has  no  justification.     It  was  just  as  bad  in  Moses  as  in  any- 


CAMPAIGNS  OF  JOSHUA.  345 

body  else,  to  avenge  an  old  grudge.  There  is  no  worthy 
end  to  be  gained  by  it.  The  best  that  can  be  said  is  that 
it  was  of  the  spirit  of  the  time. 

It  may  be  that  Joshua  was  justified  in  taking  the  cities 
of  Palestine,  it  may  be  that  he  was  justified  in  the  exter- 
mination of  those  cities  ;  but  he  was  not  justified  in  heap- 
ing contempt  upon  the  five  kings  whom  he  had  taken,  by 
having  his  captains  tread  on  their  necks.  It  was  according 
to  the  liuman  spirit  of  that  day  ;  but  it  was  not  according 
to  tlie  spirit  of  God,  as  revealed  by  Jesus  Christ.  I  lift  up 
this  conduct  before  the  tribunal  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  ask  whether,  in  the  light  of  the  spirit  and  temper  of 
Christ,  it  can  be  justified.  If  you  say  that  by  criticising 
such  things  in  the  Old  Testainent  we  shall  destroy  the 
force  of  the  Bible  on  the  common  people,  my  reply  is  that 
if  you  do  not  do  something  to  remove  the  stigma  of  such 
things  from  the  name  of  God  you  will  destroy  the  true  idea 
of  God  himself  among  thinking  people.  The  attempt  to 
save  the  Bible  by  destroying  God  is  a  poor  bargain. 

That  there  were  instructions  given,  duties  prescribed,  by 
God,  1  do  not  doubt  ;  but  that  men,  in  fulfilling  those 
duties,  in  obeying  those  instructions,  brought  in  many 
human  elements  I  cannot  doubt.  I  will  not  undertake  to 
contravene  the  laws  of  justice  and  humanity  by  making 
any  apologetic  argument.  I  will  call  things  by  their  right 
names.  Cruelty  is  cruelty  ;  justice  is  justice  ;  love  is  love  ; 
truth  is  truth  ;  humanity  is  humanity.  If  these  nations 
were  to  be  removed  "  by  the  hand  of  God,"  why  were  they 
not  swept  off  by  a  plague  or  calamity  ?  Why  must  three 
million  men  be  made  executioners,  and  go  into  the  promised 
land  wet  with  blood  from  their  fingers  to  their  shoulders  ? 

And  yet,  we  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  reason  of  these 
things  was  not  bloodthirstiness.  Turn,  if  you  please,  to 
the  seventh  chapter  of  Deuteronomy,  and  see  what  was  the 
impulse  from  which  they  sprang — for,  although  I  do  not 
think  it  removes  all  the  difficulties,  it  certainly  in  a  meas- 
ure explains  and  alleviates  them.  It  was  not  simply  cruelty 
that  inspired  them. 


346  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

"When  Jehovah  thy  Clod  sliall  Ijiiiig  thee  into  the  land  whither  thou  goest 
to  possess  it,  and  hath  cast  out  many  nations  before  thee,  the  Hittites,  and 
the  Girgashites,  and  the  Amorites,  and  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Perizzites, 
and  the  Ilivites,  and  the  Jebusites,  seven  nations  greater  and  mightier  than 
thou  ;  and  when  Jehovah  thy  God  shall  deliver  them  before  thee ;  thou 
shalt  smite  them,  and  utterly  destroy  them  ;  thou  shalt  make  no  covenant 
with  them,  nor  show  mercy  unto  them  :  neither  shalt  thou  make  marriages 
with  them  ;  thy  daughter  thou  shalt  not  give  unto  his  son,  nor  his  daughter 
shalt  thou  take  unto  thy  son.  For  they  will  turn  away  thy  son  from  follow- 
ing me,  that  they  may  serve  other  gods :  so  will  the  anger  of  Jehovah  be 
kindled  against  you,  and  destroy  thee  suddenly.  But  thus  shall  ye  deal 
with  them  ;  ye  shall  destroy  their  altars,  and  break  down  their  images,  and 
cut  down  their  groves,  and  burn  their  graven  images  with  fire.  For  thou 
art  an  holy  people  unto  Jehovah  thy  God." 

That  does  not  mean  that  they  were  perfect,  but  that  they 
were  set  apart — that  is  tlie  meaning  of  "  holy  " — to  attain 
a  morality  better  tlian  that  which  had  been  attained  by 
any  other  people. 

"Jehovah  thy  God  hath  chosen  thee  to  be  a  special  people  unto  himself, 
above  all  people  that  are  on  the  face  of  the  earth." 

That  was  the  message. 

So,  then,  the  people  were  not  to  turn  aside  from  God  ; 
and  time' and  time  again  the  reason  why  the  pagan  people 
were  to  be  cut  off,  was  that  they  would  corrupt  the  Israel- 
ites, and  turn  and  lead  them  away  from  righteousness  ;  or, 
that  they  had  already  begun  to  do  so. 

Now,  you  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  "jealousy"  of 
Jehovah  against  other  gods  was  not  an  ecclesiastical  or 
theological  jealousy.  The  reason  why  idolatry  was  so 
accursed,  was  not  that  it  w^as  a  wrong  theory  of  God  or 
moral  government  :  the  reason  was  that  the  god  of  these 
idolatrous  nations  was  a  god  fashioned  out  of  their  animal 
propensities.  They  worshiped  a  god  of  their  lusts.  The 
whole  service  of  their  gods  employed  the  gratifying  of  the 
basest  passions  that  can  degrade  the  human  body.  Licen- 
tiousness was  a  part  of  their  service.  We  have  a  record  of 
how,  when  the  Israelites  came  into  the  presence  of  the. 
Midianites,  the  women  of  Moab  and  the  women  of  the 
Midianites,  at  the  suggestion  of  Balaam,  coaxed  the  people 
of  Israel  into  the  commission  of  gross  immoralities.     It  was 


CAMPAIGNS  OFJOSHUA.  347 

this  corrupting  worship,  this  basilar  lust,  that  made  the  idol- 
atry of  neighboring  nations  so  dangerous  to  the  children 
of  Israel.  There  is  nothing  so  contagious,  nothing  that 
men  can  so  little  resist,  nothing  that  when  it  comes  into 
laxity  of  public  sentiment  is  so  destructive  to  the  virtue 
and  stability  of  a  commonwealth,  as  these  sexual  abomin- 
ations ;  and  the  Israelites  were  brought  into  the  presence 
of  nations  that  were  saturated  with  such  elements,  and 
whose  w^hole  religion  was  a  deification  of  Venus.  If  the 
Israelites  were  to  settle  down  among  nations  like  those,  the 
experiment  of  making  them  a  moral  people  could  not  be 
made  with  any  hope  of  success  ;  and  that  the  Israelites 
might  becom.e  a  powerful  nation  with  households  in  which 
purity  reigned  (and,  as  I  have  shown,  the  families  of  the 
children  of  Israel  have  been  singular  for  their  purity)  w-as 
one  reason  for  the  cutting  off,  the  destruction,  of  those 
peoples. 

If,  then,  we  want  an  apology  for  this  career  of  annihila- 
tion, the  best  thing  we  can  say  is,  that  a  course  may  be 
right  and  necessary  in  the  very  earliest  periods  of  human 
existence  which  becomes  afterwards,  in  an  advanced  state 
of  humanity,  abominable  and  utterly  unjustifiable.  Back, 
through  thousands  of  years,  in  the  rude  ages  of  mankind, 
a  certain  policy  may  have  been  allow^able  w'hich  in  a  later 
age  is  positively  criminal.  And  we  do  not  know  enough, 
in  detail,  genealogically  or  specificall}^,  of  the  nations  of 
primitive  antiquity,  to  sit  in  such  rigorous  judgment  over 
the  conduct  of  Joshua  and  the  armies  of  Israel  as  we  should 
if  we  were  considering  events  that  took  place  within  the  last 
two  thousand  years.  One  thing  I  know^  that  this  policy 
of  early  times  recorded  in  the  Old  Testament,  if  judged  by 
the  tribunal  of  the  New  Testament,  cannot  stand  for  a 
moment.  It  is  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  Christ.  You  cannot 
conceive  of  Christ  looking  upon  such  slaughter  as  is  rep- 
resented as  having  taken  place  in  olden  times,  and  approv- 
ing it.  Nor  can  you  reconcile  the  revelation  of  a  God, 
made  known  in  the  shedding  of  his  own  blood  through  his 
Son  that  the  world  migiit  be  redeemed  from  sin,  with  this 


34^  BIBLE  STCDIRS. 

account  of  a  God  thai  employed  millions  of  men  to  shed 
the  blood  of  hundreds  of  thousands.  The  light  of  th^j  New 
Testament  thrown  upon  such  transactions  condemns  them. 

If  you  say  that  in  those  ancient  periods  there  was  no 
opportunity  to  disclose  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  that  came 
out  in  the  time  of  Christ,  that  may  be  an  alleviation  ;  but 
it  will  not  justify  the  destruction  of  men,  women,  and 
children  by  hundreds  of  thousands.  If  you  say  that  in  the 
remote  ages  there  might  have  been  reasons  for  this  which 
we  do  not  know  anything  about,  I  assent  to  that. 

Am  I  asked,  then,  ''  Do  you  hold  that  the  Old  Testament 
is  a  good  book  ?  Do  you  hold  that  it  is  a  profitable  book  ? " 
I  answer  :  Do  you  hold  that  this  world  is  a  good  and 
profitable  world  while  there  are  thousands  of  bad  things 
in  it  ?  Certainly  it  is.  The  chief  tendencies  are  toward 
right  ;  the  great  natural  laws  work  for  right  :  but  entangle- 
ments arise  from  the  interference  of  the  human  will,  from 
the  slow  and  imperfect  growth  of  the  moral  sense,  and  from 
other  causes.  It  is  a  mixed  world  ;  the  moral  develop- 
ment of  men  is  required  to  enable  them  to  know  what  is 
good  and  what  is  evil,  what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong  ; 
and  while  this  development  is  being  wrought  out  there  will 
of  necessity  be  incongruities  and  inconsistences.  You  can- 
not make  veterans  of  men  that  have  not  been  in  a  fight.  You 
must  give  them  a  chance  to  learn  before  you  expect  them 
to  know.  The  Old  Testament  is  a  history  of  the  educa- 
tion of  men,  and  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  all  they  did 
was  right  because  they  thought  God  commanded  it.  We 
are  to  go  through  that  histor}^  and  take  that  which  is  good 
in  the  sight  of  God,  and  reject  that  which  is  not  good. 

We  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  though  the  Bible  is  bound 
up  as  one  book,  it  is  made  up  of  many  distinct  books,  re- 
cording events  that  took  place  sometimes  a  hundred  years 
apart,  and  sometimes  a  thousand  years  apart,  and  that  a 
flaw  in  the  validity  of  one  would  not  make  any  difference, 
with  the  validity  of  the  rest.  Men  seem  to  think  that  the 
Old  Testament  is  like  a  man  who,  if  you  take  his  bowels 
out,  is  gone  ;  but  you  can  take  from  the  Bible  this,  that,  or 


CAMPAIGXS  OF  JOSHUA.  349 

the  other  book  without  invalidating  the  remaining  books. 
The  contents  of  the  Old  Testament  must  stand  or  fall  as 
divinely  inspired,  according  as  they  agree  or  disagree  with 
the  moral  judgments  formed  in  the  school  of  Jesus  Christ. 
While  you  will  see  in  the  Old  Testament  the  rudeness  of 
primary  beginnings,  the  infirmities  of  a  race  during  the 
period  of  its  childhood,  the  faults  that  belong  to  undevel- 
oped human  nature,  on  the  other  side  you  will  see  that  the 
people  of  God  in  those  far-off  ages  were  aspiring  after 
something  higher  ;  that  they  were  endeavoring  to  follow 
nobler  and  nobler  conceptions  ;  that  they  were  seeking  to 
cleanse  themselves  from  the  impurities  of  heathendom  ; 
that  they  were  striving  after  a  better  national  life.  The 
tendency,  the  spirit,  of  the  Old  Testament  is  upward,  and 
it  is  not  dragged  down  by  these  occasional  aberrations  or 
exaggerations  of  human  passion.  The  Old  Testament  is 
full  of  material  for  instruction,  and  I  think  that  in  the 
hands  of  intelligent  men  it  will  be  even  more  operative  in 
the  future  than  it  has  been  in  the  past. 

Meanwhile,  let  us  rejoice  that  we  are  living  in  a  time  in 
which  the  light  of  the  New  Testament  is  to  be  our  guide. 
Let  us  be  thankful  that  our  walks  are  cast  in  palmier,  more 
cheering,  and  more  comforting  days  than  those  in  which  the 
patriarchs  stumbled.  We  do  not  see  men  as  trees  walking, 
as  even  the  early  lawgiver  did.  We  are  walking  in  the 
clearer  light  of  the  Son  of  God.  We  have  not,  indeed,  lived 
up  to  the  revelation  that  is  made  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  do 
not  yet  understand  the  fullness  of  the  meaning  of  his 
words.  We  understand  the  Old  Testament,  the  wisdom  of 
it,  its  utmost  stretch  ;  but  the  interior  spiritual  revelations 
made  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  through  his  apostles,  we  have 
not  fathomed.  The  world  has  not  yet  come  up  to  a  posi- 
tion in  which  it  understands  them.  The  book  of  John  is 
an  unfathomable  ocean  yet,  to  mankind.  The  race  is  not 
ready  to  take  possession  of  it. 

It  is  for  us,  then,  neither  to  deride  the  Old  Testament 
nor  to  destroy  it.  We  are  reverently  to  read  the  history 
of  the  old  patriarchs,  and,  putting  a  cloak  over  our  shoul- 


350  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

ders,  to  go  backward  and  cover  its  nakedness.  Those 
that  have  no  regard  for  it,  and  that  make  it  a  matter  of 
ribald,  witty,  insensate  attack,  I  cannot  sympathize  with. 
On  the  other  hand,  I  would  not  be  led  away  by  the  extreme 
school  who  claim  that  everything  recorded  in  that  history 
is  right.  I  would  take  the  great  middle  ground  of  dis- 
crimination, and,  with  the  knowledge  derived  from  later 
times,  go  back  and  see  how  the  childhood  of  the  human 
race  staggered,  what  men  did  when  they  thought  they 
were  following  the  commands  of  God,  and  how  long  it 
was  before  they  began  to  act  with  superior  reason  and  a 
nobler  conscience. 

But  let  us  beware.  One  utterance  of  the  Saviour  has 
in  it  great  meat, — and  great  warning. 

"  Thou,  Capernaum,  which  art  exalted  unto  heaven,  shall  be  brought 
down  to  hell." 

There  may  be  some  excuse  for  men  that  lived  in  their 
passions  and  appetites,  in  an  early  time,  to  do  the  things 
they  did  ;  but  for  us  there  can  be  no  excuse  if  we  follow 
their  example.  The  clearer  our  light,  the  greater  our  duty. 
For  us  to  fall  into  the  pit  in  which  they  of  old  stumbled 
— for  us  to  be  cruel,  inhuman,  unmerciful,  and  salacious — 
is  thrice  a  crime,  as  compared  with  the  criminality  of  those 
who  in  the  primitive  ages  walked  by  doubtful  light  and 
with  uncertain  guidance. 


XIX. 
A  TIME  OF   DEGRADATION. 


Before  we  go  on,  following  the  story  of  the  Israelites, 
let  us  see  exactly  where  we  are.  Let  us  get  a  bird's-eye 
view  of  this  history.  The  first  six  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment are  closely  connected.  The  call  of  Abraham  was  the 
starting-point.  He  dwelt  beyond  the  Euphrates,  on  the 
east.  His  own  father  was  an  idolater.  He  was  commis- 
sioned to  go  forth  as  an  emigrant.  What  the  call  was  we 
do  not  know  in  full.  Abraham  appears  as  a  very  notable 
person  ;  and  on  the  whole,  down  to  the  time  of  Moses,  he 
was  beyond  all  odds  the  noblest  rtian  that  appeared  in  the 
drama  that  was  enacting  in  his  time.  He  was  a  simple 
shepherd  chief  ;  he  gave  no  literature,  he  organized  no  in- 
stitutions, he  apparently  exerted  no  other  influence  than 
that  which  he  put  forth  as  the  head  of  a  great  family, 
tending  toward  equity  and  largeness  of  mind  in  human 
life,  and  a  belief  in  a  supreme  and  invisible  God. 

Next  came  Isaac — doubtless  a  very  sweet  and  lovable 
man,  but  colorless  and  powerless — a  mere  connecting  link 
between  Abraham  and  Jacob. 

Jacob  was  a  politician  the  first  part  of  his  life,  and  the 
latter  part  of  his  life  he  was  a  statesman.  The  politician 
is  one  that  works  by  expedients,  and  the  statesman  is  one 
that  works  according  to  great  principles.  In  the  early  part 
of  his  life  Jacob  wrought  by  expedients  that  would  not 
bear  the  test  of  modern  morality,  although  then  they  were 
not  considered  as  disreputable  as  they  are  (theoretically)  in 
our  day. 


Sunday  evening,  March  30,  1S79.      Lesson  :  Psa.  Ixxx. 


352  BIBLE   STUDIES. 

Then  came  the  heads  of  the  twelve  tribes — the  sons  of 
Jacob  ;  and  the  less  said  about  them  the  better. 

Then  there  was  a  period  of  four  hundred  years  during 
which,  so  far  as  any  account  we  have  is  concerned,  there 
was  no  divine  guidance.  It  is  as  if  the  Lord  God  had 
absolutely  forgotten  the  whole  set.  They  sank  out  of 
view.  At  the  end  of  that  period  Moses  appeared,  and  his 
appearance  was  followed  by  a  romantic  history  of  him  and 
his  people.  He  organized  them  into  a  commonwealth,  and 
conducted  them  through  the  great  wilderness,  where  they 
abode  as  a  nomadic  nation  for  a  period  of  about  forty 
years,  through  the  whole  of  which  time  he  may  be  said  to 
have  been  incubating  the  laws  and  institutes,  the  manners 
and  customs,  of  this  great  multitude,  now  increased  to  mil- 
lions. So  long  as  he  lived  things  went  from  worse  to  better, 
steadily. 

Then  came  the  time  in  which  Moses  laid  down  his  rule, 
and  appointed  Joshua  to  be  his  successor.  Under  Joshua 
it  was  that  the  whole  tract  of  country  bordering  on  the 
Jordan  was  taken  possession  of. 

West  and  east  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  is  a  country  very 
much  like  the  lava  beds  in  which  our  Modoc  Indians  hid 
themselves — a  basaltic  neighborhood  of  most  extraordinary 
character,  in  which  were  almost  inexpugnable  cities.  Their 
strong  defensive  positions  and  the  warlike  character  of 
their  occupants  called  forth  the  skill  of  Joshua's  leader- 
ship and  the  courage  of  the  Israelites — a  courage  which 
was  undoubtedly  religious.  The  enthusiasm  (some  would 
call  it  the  fanaticism  of  religious  faith  and  zeal)  with  which 
they  plucked  from  the  hands  of  that  warlike  people  this 
territory  is  a  marvel  that  is  not  sufficiently  appreciated  in 
modern  times.  It  was  a  wonderful  conquest — more  so  than 
that  further  south,  east  of  the  Jordan,  of  which  we  have  a 
fuller  account.  Under  the  leadership  of  Joshua  the  Israel- 
ites passed  over  the  Jordan,  and  entered  upon  a  series  of 
sieges  and  campaigns,  running  through  a  period  of  from 
six  to  seven  years,  during  which  time  the  main  part  of  the 
land  was  taken  possession  of.     Many  of  the  cities  were  not 


A   TIME  OF  DEGRADATION.  353 

subdued,  and  the  fastnesses  in  the  mountains  were  still  held 
by  the  occupants  ;  but  substantially  the  great  country  was 
conquered  from  the  river  Jordan  to  the  Sea  on  the  west,  and 
from  the  desert  on  the  south  to  the  sides  of  Mount  Leba- 
non on  the  north.  At  this  period  it  was  that  Joshua,  being 
now  one  hundred  and  ten  years  old,  laid  down  both  his  re- 
sponsibility and  his  life. 

It  is  very  remarkable  to  see  how,  from  time  to  time,  the 
nascent  and  crude  form  of  the  democratic  spirit  was  de- 
veloped in  this  nation.  I  know  not  that  it  was  in  any 
other.  Certainly  it  was  not  in  any  contemporaneous  na- 
tion. In  great  emergencies  Moses  called  together  the 
chiefs  of  the  tribes  and  heads  of  families,  and  all  the  priests 
and  officers,  and  the  people,  and  proclaimed  the  law  and 
the  policy,  and  rolled  the  responsibility  upon  them  all.  In 
some  cases  it  took  place  in  a  dramatic  form.  It  did  when, 
in  fulfillment  of  the  command  of  Moses,  the  tribes  were 
gathered  between  Mount  Gerizim  and  Mount  Ebal,  and 
the  whole  law  w^as  read  to  them,  and  they  said  Amen  to  the 
blessings  that  were  to  follow  obedience,  and  Amen  to  the 
curses  that  were  to  follow  disobedience.  That  was,  in 
some  sense,  putting  to  vote  to  the  whole  assembled  nation, 
as  represented  by  its  men,  and  pre-eminently  by  its  chief 
men,  the  question  of  national  fidelity  to  God  and  national 
fealty  to  law. 

Now,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed,  as  the  population  at  that 
time  amounted  to  vast  numbers  of  people,  that  there  could 
be  a  single  assembly  in  which  one  man  could  address 
them  all.  The  proclamation  was  probably  made  after  this 
fashion  :  Joshua,  or  whoever  was  the  chief  and  responsible 
magistrate,  gathered  in  groups  the  priests  and  officers,  and 
told  them  what  was  to  be  said  to  the  people,  and  they  in 
turn  declared  to  their  tribes  or  sections  the  word  that  was 
spoken  to  them.  From  them  it  was  distributed  to  the  great 
crowd.  And  then,  at  some  signal,  the  voice  of  the  whole 
people — men,  women,  and  children — was  lifted  up,  and  with 
thunder,  and  acclamation  such  as  probably  has  never  been 
known  in  any  nation  since,  they  all  bore  witness,  and  gave 
23 


354  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

their  solemn  vows  and  covenants,  committing  themselves 
both  to  the  Law  and  to  the  procedures  that  were  to  fall  out 
under  that  law. 

When  Washington  retired  from  the  magistracy  he  gave 
his  farewell  address  ;  and  when  Joshua  laid  down  his 
authorit}'  he  gave  his  farewell  address.  The  whole  is  con- 
tained in  the  last  chapters  of  the  book  of  Joshua.  It  con- 
tains some  intimations  of  the  state  of  the  people  which  are 
worth V  of  our  consideration  before  we  go  further. 

"And  Joshua  gathered  all  the  tribes  of  Israel  to  Shechem,  and  called  for 
the  elders  of  Israel,  and  for  their  heads,  and  for  their  judges,  and  for  their 
officers  ;  and  they  presented  themselves  before  God.  And  Joshua  said  unto 
all  the  people.  Thus  saith  Jehovah  God  of  Israel." 

Then  he  went  through  an  inventory  of  everything  that 
had  happened,  after  which  he  said  : — 

•  "  Now  therefore  fear  Jehovah,  and  serve  him  in  sincerity  and  in  truth  : 
and  put  away  the  gods  which  your  fathers  served  on  the  other  side  of  the 
flood*- [that  is,  the  other  side  of  the  river  Euphrates]  and  in  Egypt;  and 
serve  ye  Jehovah.  And  if  it  seem  evil  unto  you  to  serve  Jehovah,  choose  you 
this  day  whom  ye  will  serve  ;  whether  the  gods  which  your  fathers  served 
that  were  on  the  other  side  of  the  flood,  or  the  gods  of  the  Amorites,  in 
whose  land  ye  dwell :  but  as  for  me  and  my  house,  we  w  ill  serve  Jehovah. 
"And  the  people  answered  and  said,  God  forbid  that  we  should  forsake 
Jehovah,  to  serve  other  gods  :  for  Jehovah  our  God,  he  it  is  that  brought  us 
up  and  our  fathers  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  from  the  house  of  bondage,  and 
which  did  those  great  signs  in  our  sight,  and  preserved  us  in  all  the  way  where- 
in we  went,  and  among  all  the  people  through  whom  wepassed  :  and  Jehovah 
drave  out  from  before  us  all  the  people,  even  the  Amorites  which  dwelt  in 
the  land  :  therefore  will  we  also  serve  Jehovah  ;  for  he  is  our  God." 

Then  rested  the  historical  account  ;  and  Joshua  said  to 
the  people  : — 

"  Ye  cannot  serve  Jehovah  :  for  he  is  an  holy  God  ;  he  is  a  jealous  God  ; 
he  will  not  forgive  your  transgressions  nor  your  sins.  If  ye  forsake  Jehovah, 
and  serve  strange  gods,  then  he  will  turn  and  do  you  hurt,  and  consume  you, 
after  that  he  hath  done  you  good.  And  the  people  said  unto  Joshua,  Nay ; 
but  we  will  serve  Jehovah.  And  Joshua  said  unto  the  people,  Ye  are  wit- 
nesses against  yourselves  that  ye  have  chosen  you  Jehovah,  to  serve  him. 
And  they  said,  We  are  witnesses.  Now  therefore  put  away,  said  he,  the 
strange  gods  which  are  among  you,  and  incline  your  heart  unto  Jehovah 


*"  Beyond  the  River,"  says  the  Kei'iscd  Version. 


A    TIME  OF  DEGRADATION.  355 

God  of  Israel.     And  the  people  said  unto  Joshua,  Jehovah  our  God  will  we 
serve,  and  his  voice  will  we  obey. 

"  So  Joshua  made  a  covenant  with  the  people  that  day,  and  set  them  a 
statute  and  an  ordinance  in  Shechem." 

If  that  was  not  putting  the  thing  to  tlie  vote,  if  it  was 
not  an  election,  I  do  not  know  what  is  one. 

The  earliest  records,  so  far  as  I  know,  of  organized  pop- 
ular voting  on  a  large  scale,  were  these  appeals  to  the  peo- 
ple, who  had  presented  to  them  a  great  national  question, 
who  adjudicated  it,  and  who  by  the  most  solemn  act  de- 
creed it. 

It  seems  that,  after  all  their  oppressions  in  Egypt,  after 
their  wanderings  there,  and  after  all  their  instructions,  right 
under  the  eyes  of  Moses,  these  people  had  been  smuggling 
their  gods  along  with  them.  They  were  carrying  their 
little  contemptible  godlings  in  their  pockets,  as  it  were  ;  and 
when  Joshua  was  brought  to  the  leadership  he  discovered 
it.  He  found  it  more  and  more  disclosed  after  Moses' 
death  ;  and  he  made  it  a  special  point  before  he  left  his 
position  and  gave  up  his  responsibility,  to  expose  the  peo- 
ple, and  bring  them  to  the  public  declaration  that  they 
would  throw  away  their  idols  and  worship  the  one  invisible 
and  only  God.     Having  done  this,  he  died,  and  was  buried. 

Joshua  was  an  honest,  moral,  straightforward  soldier. 
He  was  not  a  man  of  ideas,  except  as  to  military  opera- 
tion ;  he  was  not  a  man  that  took  in  to  a  very  great  extent 
the  moral  truth  that  existed  in  the  teaching  of  Moses  ;  nor 
had  he  a  very  full,  comprehensive  view  of  the  institutions 
of  the  lawgiver.  He  was  one  who,  having  been  a  soldier, 
obeyed  commands  ;  and  when  Moses  said  "Go,"  he  went ; 
and  when  Moses  said  "  Come,"  he  came.  Having  obeyed, 
he  was  fit  to  command,  and  Moses  retained  him  to  take 
charge  of  the  people,  and  to  drive  out  the  nations  that  in- 
habited Palestine.  It  was  a  bad  business  in  the  light  in 
which  we  look  at  it  in  modern  times.  If  there  is  any  amel- 
ioration of  the  fact  it  is  to  be  derived  from  the  inchoate 
and  undeveloped  condition  of  mankind  in  that  remote 
antiquity. 


356  •  BIBLE  STUJUES. 

We  may  comfort  ourselves  with  the  consideration  tiiat 
this  nation  were  dispossessing  adversaries  that  liad  done 
the  same  thing  to  nations  anterior  to  themselves,  as 
those  adversaries  had  done  to  still  earlier  tribes.  There 
were  no  such  la.ws  of  national  rectitude  at  that  time  as  w^e 
have  now.  It  was  then  the  habit  of  men,  if  they  wanted 
anything,  to  take  it  if  they  could.  It  is  very  different  in 
our  day.  If  we  want  a  thing,  we  go.  about  getting  it  with 
infinite  pretenses  and  all  sorts  of  excuses.  When  we  do 
not  like  the  Chinamen,  we  find  a  thousand  "  moral  "  reasons 
why  they  should  be  kicked  out.  When  a  nation  does  not 
like  the  Jews,  it  finds  "  moral  "  reasons  why  they  ought  to 
be  ejected.  When  Germany  wants  Alsace  and  Lorraine, 
she  sees  "  moral  "  reasons  why  she  should  possess  herself 
of  them.  But  when  the  Israelites,  under  the  direction  of 
Joshua,  wanted  the  territory  occupied  by  other  nations, 
they  had  a  simpler  and  more  direct  way  of  getting  it. 
There  was  no  complaint  ;  there  was  no  inquiry  ;  there  were 
no  scruples.  Joshua  obeyed  what  he  understood  to  be  the 
divine  command.  While  he  was  not  a  man  of  broad 
thought  nor  of  deep  moral  power,  he  was  an  obedient,  an 
honest,  a  very  thorough  man  ;  soldier-like  and  true  to  the 
religious,  civil,  and  military  instructions  of  Moses,  his  great 
leader.  And  he  was  influential  ;  for  it  is  recorded  that 
after  his  death  the  influence  of  Moses  and.  of  Joshua  that 
had  been  exerted  upon  this  people  continued  during  the 
lifetime  of  that  generation. 

For  a  w^hile,  then,  things  went  on  harmoniously,  and 
with  a  certain  degree  of  prosperity.  Then  a  remarkable 
event  took  place.  When  Phinehas — that  roaring  priest  who 
taught  with  the  sword  (it  is  doubtful  which  was  the  better 
fio-hter,  Joshua  or  Phinehas) — was  dead,  and  the  elders 
that  acted  under  their  influence  were  also  dead,  there  came 
a  sudden  sinking,  prostration,  of  moral  order  and  religion. 

The  record  from  the  first  sliows  no  continuity  of  that 
Providence  by  which  revelations  or  divine  inspirations  were 
given.  Abraham  was  called  from  beyond  tlie  Euphrates,  we 
know  not  how  many  thousands  of  years  after  our  race  be- 


A    TIME  OF  DEGRADATIOX.  357 

gan,  who,  according  to  lliis  history,  seems  to  have  been  the 
first  man  tliat  was  inspired.  Then  inspiration  lulled  ;  Isaac 
and  Jacob  seem  to  have  been  only  once  or  twice  inspired 
during  their  lives.  It  then  ceased  during  the  four  hundred 
years  in  Egypt.  It  began  again  with  Moses,  and  apparently 
continued  till  the  termination  of  the  regime  finished  by 
Joshua.  Then  it  suddenly  ceased  once  more,  and  had  only 
the  most  fitful  renewals  down  as  late  as  the  time  of  Samuel. 
Then  it  blazed  out  again,  and  continued  until  the  period  of 
David  and  Solomon,  and  the  prophets  that  were  contempo- 
raneous with  the  Kings.  Then  it  lulled  again,  and  there 
v/as  no  organized,  regular,  consequent  form  of  inspiration, 
dowm  to  the  days  of  John  the  Baptist  and  Jesus  Christ, 

I  shall  not  to-night  go  into  an  examination,  which  may 
perhaps  befit  a  later  occasion,  of  what  were  the  different 
kinds  of  inspiration  ;  but  I  have  called  your  attention  to 
the  intermission  or  long  pauses  of  it,  v/hich  wdll  give  us 
some  clew  to  the  theor}^  of  the  Bible  on  this  subject. 

When  Joshua  died  there  was,  it  seems,  no  magistrate 
raised  up  to  take  his  place.  There  was  no  provision  made 
for  the  leadership  of  the  Israelites.  There  was  no  such 
organization  of  the  priesthood  as  gave  them  power  or 
influence.  No  means  had  been  instituted  for  the  regular 
education  of  the  people.  There  was  no  plan  entered  into 
for  assembling  the  people  that  they  might  choose  a  ruler. 
Things  appear  to  have  been  left  to  take  care  of  themselves. 
The  remaining  Canaanitish  tribes  —  those  that  had  not 
been  cut  oft^ — soon  began  to  intermarry  wath  the  Hebrews 
throughout  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  land. 
It  is  declared  that  the  Israelites  gave  their  daughters  to 
the  Canaanites,  the  Hittites,  the  Amorites,  the  Perizzites, 
the  Hivites,  and  the  Jebusites,  and  that  these  tribes  gave 
their  daughters  to  the  Israelites  ;  so  that  in  the  early  period 
of  the  residence  of  the  children  of  Israel  in  the  land  of 
Palestine  their  blood  was  mixed  with  the  Phenician  blood, 
w^hich  was  the  civilized  blood  of  antiquity  (for  the  Pheni- 
cians  were  the  merchants  and  travelers  of  their  time,  and 
the  enlighteners  of  those  around  about  them).     And  the 


358  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

worst  of  it  was  that  these  intermarriages  led  the  Hebrews 
to  the  adoption  of  the  worship  of  Baal  and  of  Ashtaroth. 
I  shall  not  go  into  an  explanation  of  the  interior  nature 
of  these  gods  :  suffice  it  to  say  that  for  all  modern  pur- 
poses you  may  call  Baal  Jupiter^  and  Ashtaroth  Venus. 
The  worship  of  Baal  and  Ashtaroth  was  most  corrupt.  The 
true  religion  was  thus  for  the  time  overlaid  through  the 
intermarriages  of  the  Israelites  with  the  other  peoples  of 
the  land. 

What  then  was  the  condition  into  which  the  children  of 
Israel  slumped  ?  It  was  as  if  one  were  traveling  on  a 
macadamized  highway,  and  it  suddenly  terminated  in  a 
mud  road  ;  or,  as  if  from  some  bluff  he  slid  suddenly  down 
into  the  fathomless  mud  of  the  valley  below.  The  Israelites, 
that  had  been  walking  on  a  high  plain,  seemed,  at  the 
close  of  the  generation  which  Joshua  led,  to  plunge  down 
into  the  depths  of  stupidity,  superstition,  ignorance,  and 
corruption  :  and  I  shall  read  you  two  histories,  simply  as 
specimens. 

"There  was  a  man  of  Mount  Ephraini  [or  the  hill  country  of  Ephraim], 
whose  name  was  Micah." 

Ephraim  lay  very  nearly  in  the  region  which  was  after- 
wards called  Samaria.  It  was  probably  between  Jerusa- 
lem and  the  southern  border  of  that  region. 

"  He  said  unto  his  mother,  The  eleven  hundred  shekels  of  silver  that  were 
taken  from  thee,  about  which  thou  cursedst,  and  spakest  of  also  in  mine 
ears,  behold,  the  silver  is  with  me  ;  I  took  it." 

That  is  to  say  :  Mother,  that  silver  about  which  you 
made  such  a  scolding,  I  have — I  took  it. 

"And  his  mother  said,  Blessed  be  thou  of  Jehovah,  my  son." 

She  did  not  care  so  much  that  the  fellow  was  a  thief  ; 
but  that  he  had  the  money,  and  that  she  was  going  to  get 
it  again,  opened  the  flood-gates  of  gratitude,  and  she 
blessed  him. 

"And  when  he  had  restored  the  eleven  hundred  shekels  of  silver  to  his 
mother,  his  mother  said  [Now  see  the  piety  of  it],  I  had  wholly  dedicated  the 
silver  unto  Jehovah  from  my  hand  for  my  son,  to  make  a  graven  image  and 
a  molten  image:  now  therefore  I  v»'ill  restore  it  unto  thee.     Yet  he  restored 


A   7UME  Of  DEGRADATIOX.  3S9 

the  money  unto  his  mother  ;  and  his  mother  took  two  hundred  shekels  of 
silver  and  gave  them  to  the  founder,  who  made  thereof  a  graven  nnage  and 
a  moUeu  image  ;  and  they  were  in  the  house  of  Micah.  And  the  man  Mican 
had  an  house  of  gods  [that  is,  he  had  a  chapel,  a  little  temple-like  room],  and 
made  an  erjhod  [priest's  garment],  and  teraphim  [household  idols],  and  con- 
secrated one  of  his  sons,  who  became  his  priest.  In  those  days  there  was  no 
king  in  Israel,  but  every  man  did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes." 

There  is  a  very  good  beginning  to  show  the  condition  in 
which  the  people  lived. 

"\nd  there  was  a  voung  man  out  of  Beth-lehem-judah  of  the  family  of 
Judah,  who  was  a  Levite  [He  belonged  to  the  regular  order  :  he  had  been 
set  apart  in  the  historic  manner.  The  man  Micah  was  one  of  the  dissent- 
ers and  he  had  taken  his  own  way  of  consecrating  his  own  priest  in  that 
little  chapel  of  the  silver  gods].  And  he  sojourned  there.  And  the  man 
departed  out  of  the  city  from  Beth-lehem-judah  to  sojourn  where  he  could 
find  a  place  [He  was  out  looking  for  a  parish]  :  and  he  came  to  Mount 
Ephraim  to  the  house  of  Micah,  as  he  journeyed.  And  Micah  said  unto  him. 
Whence  comest  thou  ?  And  he  said  unto  him,  I  am  a  Levite  of  Beth-lehem- 
judah,  and  I  go  to  sojourn  where  I  may  .find  a  place.  And  Micah  said  unto 
him,  Dwell  with  me,  and  be  unto  me  a  father  and  a  priest,  and  I  will  give 
thee  ten  shekels  of  silver  by  the  year,  and  a  suit  of  apparel,  and  thy  victuals." 

A  very  good  settlement  ! 

"So  the  Levite  went  in.  And  the  Levite  was  content  to  dwell  with  the 
man  •  and  the  voung  man  was  unto  him  as  one  of  his  sons.  And  Micah 
consecrated  the' Levite;  and  the  young  man  became  his  priest,  and  was  m 

the  house  of  Micah. 

"  Then  said  Micah,  Now  know  I  that  Jehovah  will  do  me  good,  seeing  1 

have  a  Levite  to  my  priest." 

So  you  see,  having  a  fine  church,  a  properly  ordained 
minister,  and  <rreat  prosperity,  as  an  indication  of  religion,  is 
not  modern  :  it  began  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  the  Judges. 
There  is  here,  about  morality,  not  a  word  ;  about  rever- 
ence, not  a  word  ;  about  purity,  truth,  and  justice,  not  a 
word  :  but  thev  had  set  up  certain  silver  gods,  they  had 
got  hold  of  a  regularly  ordained  Levite,  he  was  settled  on 
a  proper  salary,  and  they  said,  "  Now  we  are  all  right  with 
God."     Conventional  religion  ! 

Well,  this  is  not  tlie  whole  story  ;  but  it  is  a  good  door 
by  which  to  enter  into  it  : — 

«  In  those  davs  there  was  no  king  in  Israel :  and  in  those  days  the  tribe 
of  the  Danites  sought  them  an  inheritance  to  dwell  in  ;  for  unto  that  day  all 


360  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

their  inheritance  had  not  fallen  nnto  them  among  the  tribes  of  Isiacl.  And 
the  children  of  Dan  sent  of  their  family  five  men  from  their  coasts,  men  of 
valor,  from  Zorah,  and  from  Eshtaol,  to  spy  out  the  land,  and  to  search  it  ; 
and  they  said  unto  them.  Go,  search  the  land  :  who  when  they  came  to 
Mount  Ephraim,  to  the  house  of  Micah,  they  lodged  there. 

"  When  they  were  by  the  house  of  Micah,  they  knew  the  voice  of  the  young 
man  the  Levite  :  and  they  turned  in  thither,  and  said  unto  him,  Who  brought 
thee  hither?  and  what  makestthouin  this  place?  and  what  hast  thou  here? 
And  he  said  unto  them,  Thus  and  thus  dealeth  Micah  with  me,  and  hath 
hired  me,  and  I  am  his  priest.  And  they  said  unto  him,  Ask  counsel,  we 
]-)ray  thee,  of  God,  that  we  may  know  whether  our  way  which  we  go  shall 
be  prosperous." 

Thev  were  out  on  a  stealin|Li;-boiit,  as  the  account  will 
show.  Evil  men  like  to  have  the  varnish  of  religion  over 
their  acts.  These  were  freebooters,  about  to  commit  one 
of  the  most  atrocious  of  crimes,  and  they  went  to  have  the 
god  inquired  of,  and  the  god  that  they  went  to  have  in- 
quired of  was  the  one  that  was  made  of  silver. 

"And  the  priest  said  unto  them.  Go  in  peace  :  before  Jehovah  is  your  way 
wherein  ye  go." 

There  never  was  a  man  that  wanted  a  priest  to  prophesy 
things  otherwise  than  just  as  he  would  like  to  have  them. 

"  Then  the  five  men  departed,  and  came  to  Laish." 

It  was  perhaps  two  or  three  days'  journey  to  the  north, 
past  the  western  boixler  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  and  up  to 
the  roots  of  Lebanon.  Laish  was  a  quiet  city,  as  you  will 
see,  built  by  the  Sidonians,  or  those  that  dwelt  upon  the 
border  of  the  Mediterranean.  Tyre  and  Sidon  were  cities 
that  had  but  a  very  narrow  strip  of  cultivatable  land  by  the 
Mediterranean,  and  they  were  obliged,  as  they  grew  large 
and  had  a  teeming  population,  to  make  provision  to  feed 
themselves  by  bringing  corn  from  elsewhere.  So  they 
opened  highways  to  the  east,  coming  through  the  sides  of 
the  mountains,  and  built  strong  forts;  and  in  a  beautiful 
valley  they  placed  an  agricultural  colony  ;  and  this  colony 
was  raising  corn  and  sending  it  to  the  seaport  to  feed  this 
commercial  people.     Such  was  Laish. 

"Thev  came  to  Laish,  and  saw  the  people  that  were  therein,  how  they 
dwelt  careless,  after  the  manner  of  the  Zidonians,  quiet  and  secure  ;  and 


A   TIME  OF  DEGRADATION.  S^i 

there  was  no  magistrate  in  the  land,  that  might  put  them  to  shame  in  any- 
thing ;  and  they  were  far  from  the  Zidonians,  and  had  no  busmess  with 
any  man." 

Nobody  took  any  particular  interest  in  them  ;  they  were 
not  defended  in  any  way  ;  they  wei-e  an  agricultural  peo- 
ple, and  thev  were  a  great  way  from  the  mother  that  sent 
them    out   as   a   colony.     They  were  a  charming    morsel. 
And  these  men  were  very  much  like  a  fox  that,  after  wan- 
dering about   in   search 'of  prey,  should   return   and   say, 
''  Yes,  I  have  found  where  the  hens  roost.     There  is  no  dog 
there!     The  man  is  a  good  sound  sleeper.     He  don't  know 
what  is  going  on  in  the  night.     And  the  hens  are  fat.     To- 
morrow we  will  go  and  take  possession  of  that  hen-roost." 
"And  they  [the  scouts]  came  unto  their  brethren  to  Zorah  and  Eshtaol : 
and  their  brethren  said  unto  them,  What  say  ye?     And  they  said,  Arise, 
that  we  may  go  up  against  them :  for  we  have  seen  the  land,  and,  behold, 
it  is  very  good:  and  are  ye  still.?  be  not  slothful  to  go,  and  to  enter  to 
possess  the  land.     When  ye  go,  ye  shall  come  unto  a  people  secure,  and  to 
a  large  land:  for  God  hath    given  it  into  your  hands;  a  place  where  there 
is  no  want  of  anything  th^t  is  in  the  earth." 

They  smacked  their  lips  over  that  God-given  providence. 
"And  there  went  from  thence  of  the  family  of  the  Danites,  out  of  Zorah 
and  out  of  Eshtaol,  six  hundred  men  appointed  with  weapons  of  war.  And 
they  went  up,  and  pitched  in  Kirjath-jearim,  in  Judah  :  wherefore  they  called 
that  place  Mahaneh-dan  *  unto  this  day  :  behold,  it  is  behind  Ki.  jath-jearmi. 
And  they  passed  thence  unto  Mount  Ephraim,  and  came  unto  the  house  ot 

Micah.  r  T    •  1 

"  Then  answered  the  five  men  that  went  to  spy  out  the  country  of  Laish, 
and  said  unto  their  brethren.  Do  ye  know  that  there  is  in  these  houses  an 
ephod,  and  terapbim,  and  a  graven  image,  and  a  molten  image  ?  now  there- 
fore consider  what  ye  have  to  do." 

Now  for  a  little  pious  practice  by  the  way.  They  must 
have  the  sanctions  of  religion. 

"And  they  turned  thitherward,  and  came  to  the  house  of  the  young  man 
the  Levite,  even  unto  the  house  of  Micah,  and  saluted  him.  And  the  six 
hundred  men  appointed  with  their  weapons  of  war,  which  were  of  the  children 
of  Dan,  stood  bv  the  entering  of  the  gate. 

"  And  the  five  men  that  went  to  spy  out  the  land  went  up,  and  came  in 
thither,  and  took  the  graven  image,  and  the  ephod,  and  the  teraphim,  and 
the  molten  image :  and  the  priest  stood  in  the  entering  of  the  gate  with  the 

*"  The  camp  of  Dan."     Rev.  VWs  margin. 


362  BJnLE  S  TV  DIES. 

six  hundred  men  that  were  ai^pointcd  with  weapons  of  war.  And  these 
went  into  Micah's  house,  and  fetched  the  carved  image,  the  ephod,  and  tlie 
teraphim,  and  the  molten  image. 

"Then  said  the  priest  unto  them,  \Vliat  do  ye.-'  And  tiiey  said  untohiip, 
Hold  thy  peace,  lay  thine  hand  upon  thy  mouth,  and  go  with  us,  and  be  to 
us  a  father  and  a  priest :  is  it  better  for  thee  to  be  a  priest  unto  the  house 
of  one  man,  or  that  thou  be  a  priest  unto  a  tribe  and  a  family  in  Israel  ?  " 

He  had  a  larger  call. 

"And  the  priest's  heart  was  glad,  and  he  took  the  ephod,  and  the  tera- 
phim, and  the  graven  image,  and  went  in  the  midst  of  the  people.  So  they 
turned  and  departed,  and  put  the  little  ones  and  the  cattle  and  the  carriage 
before  them." 

Having  stolen  the  man's  religion,  and  his  priest,  and 
utterly  cut  him  ■  off  from  all  divine  communications  by 
stealing  his  idols,  they  were  very  happy,  and  now  were 
going  to  execute  the  word  of  the  Lord  on  Laish. 

"And  when  they  were  a  good  way  from  the  house  of  Micah,  the  men  that 
were  in  the  houses  near  to  Micah's  house  were  gathered  together,  and  over- 
took the  children  of  Dan  [for  Micah  did  not  like  it].  And  they  cried  unto 
tlie  children  of  Dan. 

"And  they  turned  their  faces,  and  said  unto  Micah,  What  aileth  thee,  that 
thou  comest  with  such  a  company?" 

It  was  impertinent  in  him, 

"And  he  said,  Ye  have  taken  away  my  gods  which  T  made,  and  the  priest, 
and  ye  are  gone  away  :  and  what  have  I  more  .''  and  what  is  this  that  ye  say 
unto  me,  What  aileth  thee  .' 

"And  the  children  of  Dan  said  unto  him.  Let  not  thy  voice  be  heard 
among  us,  lest  angry  fellows  run  upon  thee,  and  thou  lose  thy  life,  with  the 
lives  of  thy  household." 

Good  advice  I 

"And  the  children  of  Dan  went  their  way  :  and  when  Micah  saw  that 
thev  were  too  strong  for  him,  he  turned  and  went  back  unto  his  house. 

"And  they  took  the  things  which  Micah  had  made,  and  the  priest  which 
he  had,  and  came  unto  Laish,  unto  a  people  that  were  at  quiet  and  secure: 
and  thev  smote  them  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  burnt  the  city  with  fire. 
And  there  was  no  deliverer,  because  it  was  far  from  Zidon,  and  they  had  no 
business  with  anv  man  ;  and  it  was  in  the  valley  that  lietli  by  Bcth-rehob. 

"And  they  Iniilt  a  city,  and  dwelt  therein.  And  they  called  the  name  of 
the  city  Dan,  after  the  name  of  Dan  their  father,  who  was  born  unto  Israel : 
howbeit  the  name  of  the  city  was  Laish  at  the  first.  And  the  children  of  Dan 
[Pious  souls  !]  set  up  the  graven  image  :  and  Jonathan,  the  son  of  Gershom, 
the  son  of  Manasseh,  he  and  his  sons  were  priests  to  the  tribe  of  Dan  until 


A   TIME  OF  DEGRADATIOX.  3<J3 

the  day  of  the  caplivitvof  the  land.     And  they  set  theui  up  Micah's  graven 
imaoe,  which  he  made,  all  the  time  that  the  house  of  God  was  in  Shiioh." 

Consider  what  is  the  condition  of  a  people  in  which  a 
transaction  of  this  kind  coidd  take  place  without  remark. 
Consider  what  a  degradation  they  had  fallen  into.  They 
had  not  lost  all  sense  of  religion,  but  it  had  degenerated 
into  a  most  stupid  superstition.  Although  they  used  the 
name  of  Jehovali,  the  name  of  God.  yet  they  made  him 
as  a  molten  image  to  be  worshiped  ;  and  others  stole  it, 
and  carried  it  off  on  a  freebooters'  expedition,  to  plunder 
the  quiet  agricultural  people  of  the  extreme  north,  and 
then  put  their  idols  into  a  temple  there.  And  they  all  felt 
happy— all  except  Micah  ;  and  Micah  had  to  go  home  with- 
out any  religion  or  any  god.  The  probability  is  that  his 
mother  was  dead,  and  had  spent  all  the  silver,  so  that  he 
could  not  make  another. 

Well,  there  is  even  worse  than  this  ;  but  I  cannot  enter 
upon  it  to-night.  "Every  man,"  it  says,  "did  that  which 
was  rieht  in  his  own  eves."  You  must  bear  in  mind  that 
there  are  no  roads  known  to-day  such  as  were  then  em- 
ployed except  the  one  from  Beyrout  to  the  east  :  there 
were  not  roads  then,  but  paths.  Wheel  conveyances  people 
knew  nothing  about  in  that  mountainous  country.  There 
v\'as  very  little  intercourse  between  the  inhabitants  of  the 
different  sections  at  that  time.  The  Israelites  had  no  Jeru- 
salem ;  points  outside  of  the  city  may  have  been  taken,  but 
the  stronghold  had  not.  No  temple  had  been  built,  nor 
was  there  any  central  point  either  of  religion  or  of  govern- 
ment. There  was  no  order  anywhere  thereabouts.  The 
rulers,  if  such  they  might  be  called,  winked  at  everything. 

It  is  true,  human  nature  now  is  about  the  same  as  it  was 
then,  with  the  exception  of  the  varnish  you  put  on  it.  In 
the  olden  time  they  did  not  varnish  it.  They  did  what  they 
pleased  without  disguise.     And  the  natural  result  followed. 

We  perceive,  in  going  forward  with  this  history,  the 
moral  corruption  which  takes  place  when  men  lose  the 
restraint  of  a  true  God — a  God  of  righteousness.  When 
misconception    of  moral    government    and    of    the    divine 


364  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

nature  is  such  as  to  give  a-loose  to  all  their  appetites  and 
passions,  the  consequence  is  not  simply  personal  wrong 
and  personal  degradation  :  it  works  out  from  the  indi- 
vidual into  the  community.  One  thing  is  absolutely  cer- 
tain :  that  a  people  who  are  morally  corrupt,  and  worship 
Baal  and  Ashtaroth,  are  utterly  incompetent  to  form  and 
maintain  a  government ;  and  they  go  into  anarchy.  If  a 
government  is  maintained  over  any  people  it  must  be  an 
absolute  despotism,  or  else  it  must  be  a  government  of 
self-control  which  lays  upon  every  man  the  duty  of  virtue 
and  self-denial.  As  long  as  the  great  lawgiver  lived,  and 
there  was  a  considerable  degree  of  faith  in  the  one  invisi- 
ble God,  Jehovah,  who  legislated  for  righteousness  and 
upright  dealing,  so  long  the  Israelitish  people  could  not 
be  shaken  asunder  in  the  desert  by  the  assault  of  the 
Amalekites,  of  the  Midianites,  of  the  Moabites,  nor  of  the 
Amorites  ;  they  were  compacted  together,  and  strong 
enough  to  overrun  any  of  tlie  other  tribes,  and  endure 
any  hardships  that  could  be  brought  upon  them  :  but  the 
moment  they  passed  out  from  under  that  generic  influence, 
and  beg9,n  to  worship  gods  that,  instead  of  binding  them  to 
virtuous  living,  opened  to  them  the  flood-gates  of  lust,  they 
were  dissolved,  and  sins  of  license  and  of  licentiousness  be- 
came characteristic  of  their  whole  condition. 

And  is  there  no  warning  in  this  episode  of  the  history  of 
the  children  of  Israel  to  us?  Is  it  possible  to  maintain  a 
sound  municipal  government  where  the  great  majority  are 
inclined  to  avarice,  addicted  to  strong  drink,  given  over  to 
their  jxissions,  and  utterly  free  from  restraint  ?  You  cannot 
maintain  a  government  except  on  the  basis  of  purity, 
equity,  and  righteousness. 

We  see  that  so  long  as  there  were  raised  up  for  the 
Israelites  great  leaders,  it  was  possible  to  hold  tlie  nation 
to  its  integrity,  but  that  just  as  soon  as  these  leaders  died 
the  nation  found  itself  unable  to  maintain  itself,  and  ran 
down  into  a  fearful  degradation.  Where  a  great  body  of 
people  are  ignorant,  and  where  they  are  comparatively  non- 
moral,  leadership  is  indispensable  to  the  continuity  of  their 


A   ilME  Of  DEGRADATIOX.  365 

existence  and  of  their  prosperity.  And  when,  by  education, 
both  intellectual  and  moral,  the  rank  and  file  of  a  whole 
community  are  lifted  up,  great  men  apparently  disappear. 
Great  men,  as  we  call  them,  appear  chiefly  in  the  early 
stages  of  civilization.  It  is  often  said  that  we  have  no 
great  men  such  as  lived  a  hundred  or  two  hundred  years 
ago.  The  fact  is,  not  that  there  is  a  paucity  of  great  men, 
but  that  the  whole  community  has  been  carried  up  so  high 
that  the  difference  between  the  best  men  and  the  average 
men  is  far  less  than  it  used  to  be.  We  have  just  as  able 
men  as  there  ever  were,  but  the  distance  from  the  bottom 
to  the  top  is  not  so  great  as  formerly  it  was.  The  bottom 
has  been  going  up.  Therefore  we  have  not  leaders  such 
as  those  that  existed  in  earlier  days.  Leaders  are  not  so 
much  needed  w^here  there  is  an  intelligent  people, — except 
in  times  of  great  public  disturbance,  when  they  reappear. 
The  voice  of  the  people  maybecome,  and  often  is,  the  voice 
of  God.  But  where  the  great  body  of  the  people  are  igno- 
rant, or  superstitious,  or  immoral,  then  there  is  no  salva- 
tion for  them  unless  there  are  great  leaders  ;  and  when 
these  arise  they  must  necessarily  be  despotic,  arbitrary, 
absolute. 

So  then,  if  a  people  want  great  men  to  lead  them,  they 
must  consent  to  take  them  on  the  condition  of  their  own 
inferiority  ;  but  there  is  no  condition  so  fortunate  for  any 
nation  as  that  in  which  the  average  education  and  the 
average  morality  of  the  whole  community  is  graded  so 
high  that  the  people  guide  themselves,  and  public  senti- 
ment becomes  the  Moses  and  the  Joshua.  Take  care  of 
the  public  sentiment  of  any  community,  and  you  have  all 
the  leadership  that  is  needful  :  destroy  the  public  senti- 
ment of  any  community  and  you  must  needs  raise  up  some 
arbitrary  leader,  some  absolute  guide. 

Happily,  those  far  distant  days  of  intermittent  light  have 
passed  away.  The  rude  and  imperfect  methods  through 
which  the  divine  will  was  communicated  by  men  of  old  were 
like  the  stammering  and  lisping  pronunciations  of  children. 
In  these  later  days,  not  by  dreams,  not  by  prophets,  but  by 


356  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

his  own  son,  God  has  made  known  his  will  unto  us  ;  and 
the  knowledge  of  the  truth  revealed  to  us  through  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  no  longer  needs  to  be  in  the  hands  of 
priests.  It  has  entered  into  the  common  thought  and  the 
common  feeling  of  nations,  and  there  is  a-practical  gospel — 
framing  laws,  carving  out  institutions,  guiding  administra- 
tions, and  creating  public  policies.  To-day  the  mind  and 
will  of  God  are  disseminated,  not  through  select  classes, 
not  so  much  by  individual  teachers,  but  by  and  through 
the  common  sense  and  the  consciousness  of  the  common 
people  in  Christian  nations.  And  results  show  that  the 
revelations  of  God  through  these  influences  are  far  more 
effective  and  enduring  than  the  feeble  lights  that  gleamed 
in  antiquity. 


XX. 
GIDEON. 


Therf  were  three  periods  through  which  the  Israehtes 
passed  before  they  came  to  the  point  of  revival  under 
monarchy— the  period  of  captivity  in  Egypt,  the  period  of 
schooling  in  the  great  desert,  and  the  period  between  the 
death  of  Joshua  under  the  general  regime  of  Moses  and 
the  time  of  Samuel.  Upon  this  last  period  we  have  en- 
tered already,  and  our  path  through  it  we  must  pursue  for 

the  present. 

The  time  between  the  death  of  Joshua  and  the  ascend- 
ency of  Samuel  and  Saul  may  be  considered  as  a  second 
Egypt-the  Egypt  of  Palestine  ;  for  the  people  sunk  into 
gross  darkness.     They  degenerated  very  rapidly  when  the 
bonds  of  a  more  rigid  authority  were  loosened,  and  they 
were    left  to    themselves  in  a   great  degree  ;  for  now,  no 
longer  in  a  camp  where,  as  a  congregation,  they  could  be 
overlooked  and  controlled  by  the  eye  and  hand  of  Moses, 
they  were  scattered  up  and  down  through  the  whole  land 
and  were  under  the   dominion  of   general  influences,  and 
subject  to  the  workings  of  that  divine  method  of  education 
which  is   operative  upon  all  nations.     I  must  dissent   en- 
tirely from  the  view  of  those  who  undertake  to  find  in  the 
evolution  of  the  Israelitish  history  a  specification  of  divine 
influence  that  excludes  natural  causes,  or  that  leaves  upon 
the  mind  the  impression  that  there  was  toward  this  people 
an  administration  that  differs  in  kind  from  God's  adminis- 
tration over   every  people.     It  has  been   assumed,  on  the 
whole,  that  natural  causes  have  occupied  a  very  unimpor- 
,^^t  place,-a  place  not  only  secondary,  but  basilar,-and 

"^^^i^evening,  April  13,  1879-     I^^^^son  :  Psa.  xx. 


368  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

thai  substantiiiUy  the  Israelites  were  brooded  and  devehjped 
under  a  special  divine  influence  that  differed  from  that 
exerted  on  any  other  nation  either  before  or  since. 

Now,  I  hold  that  there  was  a  divine  communication  with 
the  Israelites,  because  I  believe  there  is  a  divine  communi- 
cation with  universal  humanity,  and  always  has  been.  I 
therefore  am  prepared  to  assent  to  special  messages,  to  spe- 
cial appearances,  to  visions,  and  to  miracles  or  wonders  : 
but  these  were  occasional  ;  in  many  periods  they  were 
rare  ;  and  the  main  instrumentalities  by  which  the  Israel- 
itish  people  evolved  from  their  low  condition  to  a  higher 
estate  were  great  natural  causes,  as  we  call  them.  Chris- 
tian people  have  been  afraid  of  Nature,  and  in  ignoring 
that  element  as  a  divine  influence  they  have  struck  out  of 
God's  hand  his  own  scepter.  They  have  been  so  anxious 
to  believe  God  does  things  by  direct  volition  that  they 
have  left  out  of  sight  the  fact  that  he  organizes  and  puts 
in  operation  events  and  methods  by  which  he  influences 
men  and  nations  throughout  the  whole  globe.  I  believe 
that  not  only  men — in  their  social  conditions  and  mutual 
influences — but  that  the  climate,  that  the  air,  that  the 
winds,  that  the  light,  that  mountains,  that  stones,  that 
water,  that  birds  and  beasts,  that  all  things,  are  God's  min- 
isters, his  servants,  and  that  it  is  through  their  ministra- 
tion, by  means  of  them,  that  he  evolves,  the  results  which 
he  accomplishes. 

Let  us  follow  out  still  further  the  history  of  the  period 
on  which  we  have  entered.  The  Israelites,  having  lost 
their  ordained  leaders,  became  a  mob,  facile  to  temptation. 
During  that  period,  in  which  Israel  was  broken  and  carried 
away  captive,  we  shall  see  a  strange  mixture.  We  shall 
discern  the  steady  operation  of  causes  both  in  their  de- 
generation and  in  their  reconstruction.  We  shall  observe, 
sparkling  here  and  there,  the  mystic  light  of  inspiration. 
It  is  dramatic  to  the  last  degree  ;  and  the  record  of  it  is 
most  picturesque.  We  could  not  afford  to  lose  out  of  the 
Old  Testament  that  book  of  Judges,  which  carries  us  back 
to  the  early  history  of  manhood,  to  the  way  in  which  men 


GIDEOX.  369 

liv^ed,  and  to  the  method  by  which  God  rescued   tliem,  or 
sought  to  do  so. 

We  begin,  this  evening,  the  history  of  Gideon,  and  of  his 
ministration  over  Israel. 

The  Midianites  were  descendants  of  Abraham  through 
Keturah,  and  tlieir  chief  liabitation  was  in  northern  Arabia, 
tliat  skirted  the  eastern  part  of  the  southern  line  of  Pales- 
tine itself.  The  Israelites,  as  you  remember,  had  already 
had  some  dealings  with  the  Midianites.  Joined  with  the 
Amalekites,  they  were  overthrown  by  the  hand  of  Joshua, 
under  the  regency  of  Moses.  They  seem  to  have  been 
quiet  for  a  time  after  they  were  decimated  by  war  ;  but  men 
breed  fast  in  those  Oriental  deserts,  and  though  it  would 
be  supposed  that  their  courage  would  be  broken  and  their 
force  destroyed  forever,  they  were  soon  found  to  exist  in 
great  numbers  and  with  remarkable  power.  They  broke 
over  the  Jordan,  swarming  the  eastern  parts  of  Palestine. 
The  description  of  their  operations  is  very  emphatic. 

You  must  imagine  them  as  Bedouin  Arabs,  w^ith  their 
tents  and  their  camels,  pursuing  their  vocation  as  robbers, 
waiting  until  the  people  had  sowed  their  fields  with  barley 
and  wheat,  until  their  crops  had  matured,  and  until  their 
vines  were  loaded  with  ripe  grapes,  and  then  rushing  in 
and  taking  possession  of  all  their  harvests,  and  levying 
tribute,  in  an  orderly  manner.  Thus  they  carried  on  this 
illicit  robbery  ;  and  to  such  extent  did  the}'-  ravage  the 
land  that  the  people,  when  threshing  the  grain,  did  not 
dare  to  do  it  by  oxen  or  flail  out  of  doors,  but  did  it  in  the 
wine-press,  that  they  might  hide  it  from  the  Midianites  that 
hovered  around  to  seize  any  plunder  that  lay  about  loose. 
The  IsraeJites  of  all  the  region  were  driven  by  these  in- 
vaders into  the  caves  and  caverns  as  well  as  the  mountains 
of  the  limestone  region  in  which  they  dwelt.  They  were 
reduced  very  low,  and  they  had  to  hide  their  food,  and 
crawl  like  insects  into  the  rifts  of  rocks  or  caverns,  in  order 
to  escape  the  outrages  to  which  the  Midianites  sought  to 
subject  them.      It  was  more  than  human  nature  could  bear. 

Not  only  had  they  come  to  this  oppression,  but,  broken  in 
24 


370 


BIBLE   STUDIES. 


Spirit,  they  had  given  way  to  their  passions,  and  gone  back 
to  the  idolatrous  and  licentious  worship  of  Baal.  The 
worship  of  the  true  God  had  disappeared  from  among 
them. 

But  we  are  told  somewhat  earlier  in  the  book  of  Judges, 
first  in  a  sentence  that  is  repeated  again  and  again  as  if  to 
intensify  its  meaning  in  connection  with  the  woes  that 
came  upon  the  people  : — 

"And  the  children  of  Israel  did'  that  which  was  evil  in  the  sight  of  Jeho- 
vah, and  served  the  Baalim.  .  .  .  they  forsook  Jehovah,  and  served 
Baal  and  the  Ashtaroth.  And  the  anger  of  Jehovah  was  kindled  against 
Israel,  and  he  delivered  them  into  the  hands  of  spoilers." 

Yet,  from  time  to  time,  ''  it  repented  Jehovah  because 
of  their  groaning  by  reason  of  them  that  oppressed  and 
vexed  them,  and  he  raised  them  up  judges" — champions — 
who  saved  them  out  of  the  hand  of  their  enemies.  We  are 
about  to  look  at  one  of  these  patriotic  heroes. 

"  There  came  an  angel  of  the  Lord,  and  sat  under  an  oak  which  was  in 
Uphrah,  that  pertained  unto  Joash  the  Abi-ezrite:  and  his  son  Gideon 
threshed  wheat  by  the  wine-press,  to  hide  it  from  the  Midianites." 

The  locality  is  not  distinctly  known,  but  it  is  highly 
probable  that  it  was  in  the  upper  border  of  Aram,  near  the 
valley  of  Jezreel — in  that  general  neighborhood. 

"And  the  angel  of  Jehovah  appeared  unto  him  [Gideon],  and  said  unto 
him,  Jehovah  is  with  thee,  thou  mighty  man  of  valor." 

You  take  notice  that  when  God  calls  men  he  always 
calls  men.  You  cannot  find  a  record  of  God's  calling,  for 
any  great  purpose,  a  poor,  miserable,  shiftless  wretch. 
When  he^  calls  he  knows  what  he  wants,  and  he  generally 
calls  men  that  are  men  from  their  mother's  womb.  More 
than  that,  when  a  man  is  a  man — and  because  'of  it — he 
hears  God  call  when  nobody  else  does. 

Gideon  was  a  man  of  the  right  sort.  He  was  a  patriot. 
His  heart  burned  within  him.  He  deplored  the  oppression 
of  his  people.  He  felt  outraged  by  their  idolatry  and  moral 
degradation.  He  grieved  over  their  sufferings.  He  was  a 
just  man.  And  that  was  the  message  conveyed  to  him  by 
the  angel  that  appeared  to  him. 


GIDEON.  371 

"And  Gideon  said  unto  him,  O  my  lord,  if  Jehovah  be  with  us,  why  then 
is  all  this  befallen  us  ?  and  where  be  all  his  miracles  which  our  fathers  told 
us  of,  saying.  Did  not  Jehovah  bring  us  up  from  Egypt?  but  now  Jehovah 
hath  forsaken  us,  and  delivered  us  into  the  hands  of  the  Midianites. 

"And  Jehovah  looked  upon  him,  and  said,  Go  in  this  thy  might,  and  thou 
shalt  save  Israel  from  the  hand  of  the  Midianites :  have  not  I  sent  thee  ? " 

It  was  the  last  thing  that  could  have  entered  his  mind, 
that  he,  a  common  working  man,  should  be  sent  of  God, 
and  that  he  was  to  be  brought  to  the  position  of  a  leader,  a 
revolutionist,  an  emancipationist.  He  had  not  thought  of 
such  a  thing  before  ;  so  that  with  this  new  blaze  of  religion 
and  patriotism  firing  his  soul,  he  considered  the  matter 
modestly — as  his  greater  predecessor  Moses  had  done. 

"And  he  said  unto  him,  O  my  lord,  wherewith  shall  I  save  Israel .?  behold, 
my  family  is  poor  in  Manasseh,  and  I  am  the  least  [the  youngest]  in  my 
father's  house.  And  Jehovah  said  unto  him,  Surely  I  will  be  with  thee, 
and  thou  shalt  smite  the  Midianites  as  one  man." 

If  any  man  feels  that  he  is  mightier  than  a  host  it  is 
wdien  he  is  conscious  that  God  is  with  him.  But  Gideon 
was  not  flattered,  and  he  was  not  credulous. 

"And  he  said  unto  him.  If  now  I  have  found  grace  in  thy  sight,  then  show 
me  a  sign  that  thou  talkest  with  me." 

It  was  an  uncertain  vision. 

"  Depart  not  hence,  I  pray  thee,  until  I  come  unto  thee,  and  bring  forth 
my  present  [offering],  and  set  it  before  thee. 

"And  he  said,  I  will  tarry  until  thou  come  again." 

So  Gideon  went  into  the  house,  and  prepared  a  kid,  and 
some  cakes,  and  brought  them  out,  and  put  them  on  a 
stone,  and  the  angel  touched  them  with  a  rod,  and  there 
flamed  fire,  and  Gideon  was  all  a-quiver  ;  for  he,  in  com- 
mon with  all  his  people,  was  possessed  with  the  idea  that 
if  any  man  looked  upon  divinity  it  would  destroy  him. 

"And  when  Gideon  perceived  that  he  was  an  angel  of  Jehovah,  Gideon 
said,  Alas,  O  lord  God !  for  because  I  have  seen  an  angel  of  Jehovah  face 

to  face. 

"And  Jehovah  said  unto  him,  Peace  be  unto  thee;  fear  not:  thou  shalt 

not  die. 

"  Then  Gideon  built  an  altar  there  unto  Jehovah,  and  called  it  Jehovah- 
shalom  [Jehovah  is  peace]." 


y]2  BIBLE  srCDIES. 

This  is  the  opening  history.  Next  it  came  to  pass  that 
God  told  Gideon  to  open  the  campaign,  to  throw  down  the 
challenge.  How  was  that  to  be  done  ?  His  father,  Joash, 
had  been  probably  led  away  into  idolatry,  and  is  supposed 
l3y  many  to  have  been  a  priest  of  Baal. 

"Jehovah  said  unto  him  [either  in  a  dream  or  in  some  other  waylay  which 
he  was  impressed  with  it  as  with  a  vision],  Take  thy  father's  young  bullock, 
even  the  second  bullock  of  seven  years  old,  and  throw  down  the  altar  of 
Baal  that  thy  father  hath,  and  cijt  down  the  grove  that  is  by  it  :  and  build 
an  altar  unto  Jehovah  thy  God  upon  the  top  of  this  rock,  in  the  ordered 
jilace,  and  take  the  second  bullock,  and  offer  a  burnt  sacrifice  with  the 
wood  of  the  grove  which  thou  shalt  cut  down." 

The  Hebrew  word  ashcra  that  is  translated  grove  has 
given  rise  to  very  much  investigation.  The  general  belief 
now  is  that  it  represented  upriglit  wooden  images,  or  obe- 
lisks that  stood  for  images,  of  divinities  worshiped  by  licen- 
tious rites — Baal,  Ashtaroth,  and  other  such. 

"  Then  Gideon  took  ten  men  of  his  servants,  and  did  as  Jehovah  had 
said  unto  him:  and  so  it  was,  because  he  feared  his  father's  household, 
and  the  men  of  the  city,  that  he  could  not  do  it  by  day,  that  he  did  it  by 
night.  And  when  the  men  of  the  city  arose  early  in  the  morning,  behold, 
the  altar  of  Baal  was  cast  down,  and  the  grove  was  cut  down  that  was  by  it, 
and  the  second  bullock  was  offered  upon  the  altar  that  was  built.  And  they 
said  one  to  another,  ^Yho  hath  done  this  thing .'' " 

You  may  depend  upon  it,  there  was  a  buzzing. 

"And  when  they  inquired  and  asked,  they  said,  Gideon  the  son  of  Joash 
hath  done  this  thing.  Then  the  men  of  the  city  said  unto  Joash,  Bring  out 
thy  son,  that  he  may  die  :  because  he  hath  cast  down  the  altar  of  Baal,  and 
because  he  hath  cut  down  the  grove  that  was  by  it." 

It  wasan  attack  on  their  religion.  No  matter  what  men 
are  doing — though  they  be  wallowing  in  filth  ;  though  they 
be  immoral,  corrupt,  superstitious,  cruel  and  despotic  to 
the  last  degree — touch  their  religion,  and  they  will  spring 
to  its  defense.  Generally,  the  worse  men  are  the  more 
earnest  they  are  to  avenge  what  they  call  an  insult  to  their 
religion.  Here  was  their  religion  oppressing  the  people 
and  treading  out  their  very  life  ;  but  when  their  altar  was 
thrown  down  that  was  a  reason  for  summoninsf  the  whole 
nation  to  defend  that  religion. 


CWEOX.  ■  373 

"Then  all  the  Midianites  and  the  Amalekites  and  the  children  of  theeasf- 
were  gathered  together,  and  went  over,  and  pitched  in  the  valley  of  Jezreel." 

This  was  a  little  southwest  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  It  was 
the  way  of  caravans  as  they  went  toward  Tyre  and  Sidon 
and  the  great  East. 

"But  the  si)irit  of  Jehovah  came  upon  Gideon,*  and  he  blew  a  trumpet; 
and  Abi-ezer  was  gathered  after  him.  And  he  sent  messengers  throughout 
all  Manasseh  ;  who  also  was  gathered  after  him  :  and  he  sent  messengers 
unto  Asher,  and  unto  Zebulun,  and  unto  Naphtali  [all  that  region  lying  at 
the  extren^e  north  of  Palestine] ;  and  they  came  up  to  meet  them." 

This  was  like  the  gathering  of  clans.  You  that  have 
read  Scott's  poetry  will  remember  how  the  fiery  cross  was 
sent  from  tribe  to  tribe,  from  clan  to  clan.  What  magnifi- 
cent descriptions  the  poet  gives  of  the  assembling  of  the 
Scottish  hosts  !  That  is  the  way  the  warlike  tribes  of  old 
were  called  together.  It  took  place  under  the  command  of 
Gideon.  He  blew  the  trumpet  and  brought  the  gathering 
tribes  from  the  north,  the  east,  and  the  west,  for  the  national 
defense. 

"xA.nd  Gideon  said  unto  God,  If  thou  wilt  save  Israel  by  mine  hand,  as 
thou  hast  said,  Behold,  I  will  put  a  fleece  of  wool  in  the  floor;  and  if  the 
dew  be  on  the  fleece  only,  and  it  be  dry  upon  all  the  earth  beside,  then 
shall  I  know  that  thou  wilt  save  Israel  by  mine  hand,  as  thou  hast  said. 
And  it  was  so  :  for  he  rose  up  early  on  the  morrow,  and  thrust  the  fleece 
together,  and  wringed  the  dew  out  of  the  fleece,  a  bowl  full  of  water. 

"And  Gideon  said  unto  God,  Let  not  thine  anger  be  hot  against  me,  and 
I  will  speak  but  this  once  :  let  me  prove,  I  pray  thee,  but  this  once  with  the 
fleece  ;  let  it  now  be  dry  only  upon  the  fleece,  and  upon  all  the  ground  let  there 
be  dew.  And  God  did  so  that  night :  for  it  was  dry  upon  the  fleece  only, 
and  there  was  dew  on  all  the  ground," 

It  was  a  very  simple  sign,  and  Gideon  was  a  very  simple 
man.  Such  a  sign  would  not  go  a  great  way  with  you  or 
me,  because  we  are  in  a  different  age  from  that  in  which 
this  occurrence  took  place  ;  but  it  was  sufficiently  re-assur- 
ing to  Gideon  to  give  him  certitude,  faith, — in  himself  as 
an  instrument  of  God,  and  in  the  cause  which  he  was 
endeavoring    to    serve.     Though   you  call  it  superstition. 


*The  margin  of  the  Revised  Version  gives  the  vivid  touch  of  direct  trans- 
lation :  "clothed  itself  with  Gideon." — Editor. 


374  •  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

nevertheless  it  did   the  work  appointed,  and  he  was  satis- 
fied to  go  forward. 

"Then  Jeiubbaal,  who  is  Gideon,  and  all  the  people  that  were  with  him, 
rose  up  early,  and  pitched  beside  the  well  of  Harod  :  so  that  the  host  of  the 
Midianites  were  on  the  north  side  of  them,  by  the  hill  of  Moreh,  in  the  val- 
ley." 

It  was  high  ground  south  of  the  plain  of  Jezreel,  which 
looked  down  into  that  plain.  They  saw  the  hosts  of  the 
Midianites,  with  their  allies,  the  Amalekites,  described  as 
l)eing,  for  number,  like  grasshoppers — like  those  swarms  of 
locusts  with  which  we  are  too  familiar  in  our  own  country, 
and  which  in  the  Orient  have  been  observed  from  time  im- 
memorial :  Gideon  had  gathered  about  thirty-two  thousand 
men, 

"And  Jehovah  said  unto  Gideon,  The  people  that  are  with  thee  are  too 
many  forme  to  give  the  Midianites  into  their  hands,  lest  Israel  vaunt  them- 
selves against  me,  saying.  Mine  own  hand  hath  saved  me.  Now  therefore 
go  to,  proclaim  in  the  ears  of  the  people,  saying.  Whosoever  is  fearful  and 
afraid,  let  him  return  and  depart  early  from  Mount  Gilead.  And  there  re- 
turned of  the  people  twenty  and  two  thousand." 

Wonderful  army  I  Twenty-two  thousand  cowards  to 
about  ten  thousand  men  of  pluck.  That  explains  why 
there  were  too  many  of  them,  and  why  it  was  better  that 
they  should  be  sent  home. 

"And  there  remained  ten  thousand.  And  Jehovah  said  unto  Gideon, 
The  people  are  too  many." 

Undoubtedly,  of  that  sort.  So  he  commanded  the  num- 
ber to  be  still  further  reduced,  and  the  test  of  their  fitness 
was  very  curious.  Those  that  lapped  water  like  a  dog 
were  dismissed  ;  those  that  got  down  on  their  knees  to 
drink  were  also  set  aside  ;  but  those  that  lapped,  putting 
their  hand  to  their  mouth,  of  whom  there  were  three  hun- 
dred, he  retained, — probably  the  trained  fighters,  who  knew 
the  surprises  of  battle  too  well  to  put  their  heads  down 
beyond  quick  recovery,  but  raised  the  water  to  their 
mouths  Avith  their  hands. 

"And  Jehovah  said  unto  Gideon,  By  the  three  hundred  men  that  lapped 
will  I  save  you,  and  deliver  the  Midianites  into  thine  hand:  and  let  all  the 
Other  people  go  every  man  unto  his  place. 


GIDEON,  375 

"  So  the  people  took  victuals  in  their  hand,  and  their  trumpets  :  and  he 
sent  all  the  rest  of  Israel  every  man  unto  his  tent,  and  retained  those  three 
hundred  men  :  and  the  host  of  Midian  was  beneath  him  in  the  valley. 

"And  it  came  to  pass  the  same  night,  that  Jehovah  said  unto  him,  Arise, 
get  thee  down  unto  the  host ;  for  I  have  delivered  it  iuto  thine  hand.  But 
if  thou  fear  to  go  down,  go  thou  with  Phurah  thy  servant  down  to  the  host : 
and  thou  shalt  hear  what  they  say;  and  afterward  shall  thine  hands  be 
strengthened  to  go  down  unto  the  host.  [You  will  notice  how  much  scout- 
ing and  spying  for  information  was  done  by  all  these  Hebrew  warriors.]  Then 
went  he  down  with  Phurah  his  servant  unto  the  outside  of  the  armed  men 
that  were  in  the  host  [in  the  camp].  And  the  Midianites,  and  the  Amale- 
kites,  and  all  the  children  of  the  east,  lay  along  in  the  valley  like  grasshoppers 
for  multitude ;  and  their  camels  were  without  number,  as  the  sand  by  the 
seaside  for  multitude. 

"And  when  Gideon  was  come,  behold,  there  was  a  man  that  told  a  dream 
unto  his  fellow,  and  said,  Pehold,  I  dreamed  a  dream,  and,  lo  a  cake  of 
barley  l^read  tumbled  into  the  host  of  Midian,  and  came  unto  a  tent,  and 
smote  it  that  it  fell,  and  overturned  it,  that  the  tent  lay  along.  And  his  fel- 
low answered  and  said.  This  is  nothing  else  save  the  sword  of  Gideon 
the  son  of  Joash,  a  man  of  Israel :  for  into  his  hand  hath  God  delivered 
Midian,  and  all  the  host." 

When  Gideon  heard  that  he  was  well  pleased.  He  un- 
derstood it. 

"And  it  was  so,  when  Gideon  heard  the  telling  of  the  dream,  and  the 
interpretation  thereof,  that  he  worshiped,  and  returned  into  the  host  of 
Israel,  and  said,  Arise ;  for  Jehovah  hath  delivered  into  your  hand  the  host 
of  Midian." 

Now  comes  the  extraordinary  arrangement  of  the  battle. 
At  about  midnight  he  divided  his  three  hundred  men  into 
companies  of  one  hundred  each,  w^ith  not  a  sword,  nor  a 
bow%  nor  a  sling,  but  a  ram's-horn  trumpet  in  the  right  hand, 
and  a  torch  in  the  inside  of  a  pitcher,  as  it  is  called,  in  the 
other.  The  pitchers  were  earthen  vessels  that  protected 
the  torches,  as  a  lantern  protects  a  lamp  or  a  candle.  They 
were  so  constructed  that  the  light  could  not  be  blown  out 
by  the  wind,  and  that  it  could  be  hidden.  Such  pitchers 
or  lanterns  are  made  yet  in  Oriental  countries  in  which 
they  carry  torches  or  candles.  About  midnight,  wdien 
the  soldiers  of  Midian  slept  heavily,  the  band  of  Gideon 
came  in  from  three  different  quarters,  and  suddenly  broke 
their  pitchers,  and  the  three  hundred  torches  flashed  out 


376  BIBLE  S  TV  DIES. 

upon  the  host.  At  the  same  tune  the  three  liundred  trum- 
pets sounded  ;  and  if  you  had  ever  heard  one  of  those 
trumpets  you  would  think  it  might  wake  up  a  dead  man, 
and  scare  anybody  ;  but  three  different  bands,  looking  as 
if  they  were  three  different  armies,  pouring  into  the  camp 
roused  the  whole  host  out  of  their  sleep.  "  The  sword  of 
Jehovah  and  of  Gideon  !  "  shouted  the  three  hundred  ;  and 
the  Midianites  fled,  panic-stricken,  turning  their  swords 
upon  one  another  in  their  fright  and  confusion. 

You  must  bear  in  mind  how  easily  any  army  may  be 
surprised  and  thrown  off  their  guard  ;  and  in  the  East,  an 
army  made  up  of  mercurial  and  excitable  people  are  pecul- 
iarly liable  to  panics  of  the  most  disastrous  kinds.  So  this 
great  host,  supposing  they  were  about  to  be  consumed  by 
these  flashing  red  dragons,  rushed  headlong  ;  and  as,  in 
the  confusion,  every  one  thought  he  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  enemy^  they  smote  each  other,  those  that  survived 
making  their  way  as  best  they  could  toward  the  plains  of 
Jezreel  and  the  fords  of  the  Jordan. 

Then  Gideon  showed  himself  a  general.  He  sent  instant 
messengers  throughout  all  the  hill  country  of  Ephraim,  to 
the  tribes  that  lived  in  the  neighborhood  of  these  fords, 
and  asked  them  to  come  down  against  the  Midianites,  and 
hold  the  fords,  while  he  with  the  tribes  already  gathered 
was  pursuing  the  routed  foe.  The  result  was  that  only 
about  fifteen  thousand  of  that  enormous  host  crossed  the 
Jordan  ;  for  after  the  battle  was  fought,  and  the  enemy 
were  broken,  every  tribe  from  tlie  north,  and  from  the 
middle  and  lower  parts  of  the  land,  rushed  out  to  help 
destroy  them.  There  is  no  trouble  in  obtaining  recruits 
to  an  army  after  the  foe  is  in  flight.  . 

"Come  down  [he  said]  against  the  Midianites,  and  take  Ijcfore  thciii  the 
waters  unto  Beth-barah  and  Jordan.  Then  all  the  men  of  Ephraim  gathered 
themselves  together,  and  took  the  waters  unto  l>eth-barah  and  Jordan. 
And  they  took  two  princes  of  the  Midianites,  Oreb  and  Zeeb  [that  is  to  say, 
the  Raven  and  the  Wolf.  Those  were  their  names,  as  our  Indian  chiefs 
have  names  derived  from  animals] ;  and  they  slew  Oreb  upon  the  rock  Oreb, 
and  Zeeb  they  slew  at  the  wine-press  of  Zeeb,  and  pursued  Midian,  and 
brought  the  heads  of  Oreb  and  Zeeb  to  Gideon  on  the  other  side  Jordan. 


GIDEOX.  377 

"And  the  men  of  Ephraini  said  unto  him  [After  it  was  well  over,  and  all 
was  sure  and  safe,  their  pride  was  a  little  hurt  that  another  chieftain  of  an- 
other tribe  had  gained  this  victory],  Why  hast  thou  served  us  thus,  that 
thou  calledst  usnot,  when  thou  wentest  to  fight  with  the  Midianites?  And 
they  did  chide  with  him  sharply. 

"And  he  said  unto  them  [It  is  evident  that  he  was  a  diplomat  as  well  as  a 
general],  What  have  I  done  now  in  comparison  of  you  ?  Is  not  the  gleanino- 
of  the  grapes  of  Ephraim  better  than  the  vintage  of  Abi-ezer?  God  hath 
delivered  into  your  hands  the  princes  of  Midian,  Oreb  and  Zeeb  :  and  what 
was  I  able  to  do  in  comparison  of  you  ? 

"  Then  their  anger  was  abated  toward  him,  when  he  had  said  that." 

A  sweet  compliment  will  shut  up  an  angrv  man's  mouth. 

"And  Gideon  came  to  Jordan,  and  passed  over,  he,  and  the  three  hundred 
men  that  were  with  him,  faint,  yet  pursuing." 

The  Midianite  remnant  of  some  fifteen  thousand  had 
gone  up  one  of  the  gorges  and  got  upon  the  table-lands 
beyond  into  a  secure  place,  had  camped  down,  and  were 
sleeping  off  their  fatigue  and  fright  ;  for  they  felt  at  last 
that  they  were  secure  ;  but  Gideon  pursued  them  up 
through  this  narrow  defile,  and  came  upon  them  unawares, 
and  utterly  routed  and  destroyed  them.  There  fell,  alto- 
gether, one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  Midianites. 

On  the  way,  however,  Gideon  asked  relief  and  succor  of 
those  that  he  met  in  the  road. 

"And  he  said  unto  the  men  of  Succoth,  Give,  I  pray  you,  loaves  of  bread 
unto  the  people  that  follow  me ;  for  they  be  faint,  and  I  am  pursuing  after 
Zebah  and  Zalmunna,  kings  of  Midian.  And  the  princes  of  Succoth  said, 
Are  the  hands  of  Zebah  and  Zalmunna  now  in  thine  hand,  that  we  should 
give  bread  unto  thine  army.''" 

They  did  not  know  but  those  kings  might  come  back  and 
destroy  them,  and  they  wanted  to  be  sure  that  Gideon  had 
captured  them  before  they  fed  his  men. 

"Gideon  said,  Therefore  when  Jehovah  hath  delivered  Zebah  and  Zal- 
munna into  mine  hand,  then  I  will  tear  your  flesh  with  the  thorns  of  the 
wilderness  and  with  briers." 

So,  too,  with  the  men  of  Penuel,  whose  tower  he  said  he 
would  break  down,  because  they  refused  him  food  during 
the  pursuit.  Returning  from  the  battle,  the  victor  caught 
a  lad  of  Succoth  and  got  him  to  describe  the  chief  men  of 


378  niBLR  STCDIES. 

the  place  ;  then  he  took  possession  of  it,  and  fulfilled  his 
promise  that  he  would  tear  their  flesh  with  the  thorns  of 
the  wilderness  and  with  briers  ;  and  he  did  break  down  the 
tow^er  of  Penuel,  and  slew  the  men  of  the  city. 

Now^  comes  an  inimitable  bit  of  sadness,  and  light  in  a 
dark  place.  The  two  Midianite  kings,  as  they  were  called, 
— Zebah  and  Zalmunna, — were  brought  before  Gideon. 

"Then  said  he  unto  Zebah  and  Zalmunna,  What  manner  of  men  were 
they  whom  ye  slew  at  Tabor  ?  " 

We  have  no  account  of  that  to  which  reference  is  made 
except  in  this  question. 

•'  They  answered,  As  thou  art,  so  were  they ;  each  one  resembled  the 
children  of  a  king.  And  he  said,  They  were  my  brethren,  even  the  sons  of 
my  mother  :  as  the  Lord  liveth,  if  ye  had  saved  them  alive,  I  would  not 
slay  you. 

"And  he  said  unto  Jether  his  firstborn,  Up,  and  slay  them.  But  the 
vouth  drew  not  his  sword :  for  he  feared,  because  he  was  yet  a  youth. 

"  Then  Zebah  and  Zalmunna  said,  Rise  thou,  and  fall  upon  us  :  for  as 
the  man  is,  so  is  his  strength." 

They  wanted  to  be  slain  by  a  man.  Their  pride  was 
touched  by  the  idea  that  they  were  to  be  killed  by  a  boy. 
There  was  an  admirable  element  in  their  bold  solicitation 
that  they  might  be  granted  an  honorable  death,  at  the  hands 
of  a  hero. 

As  a  result  of  this  great  deliverance  the  natural  enthu- 
siasm of  the  people  flamed  out  toward  Gideon,  and  by  a 
spontaneous  acclamation  he  was  called  to  be  their  king. 
And  here  shone  out  another  noble  trait. 

"Then  the  men  of  Israel  said  unto  Gideon,  Rule  thou  over  us,  both  thou, 
and  thy  son,  and  thy  son's  son  also  :  for  thou  hast  delivered  us  from  the 
hand  of  Midian.  And  Gideon  said  unto  them,  I  will  not  rule  over  you, 
neither  shall  my  son  rule  over  you:  Jehovah  shall  rule  over  you." 

That  is  all  that  is  said  here,  and  that  is  enough.  A 
crown  was  offered  him  and  his  descendants,  and  he  put  it 
away  both  from  himself  and  his  family,  and  show^ed  the 
secret  of  his  influence  and  power — his  belief  in  Jehovah,  in 
an  invisible  God.  But  then  he  asked  of  them  that  they 
would  give  him  all  the  ornaments  that  had  been  taken  from 
their  enemies. 


GIDEOX.  379 

"And  Gideon  said  unto  them,  I  would  desire  a  request  of  you,  that  ye 
would  give  me  every  man  the  earrings  of  his  prey.  (For  they  had  golden 
earrings,  because  they  were  Ishmaelites.)  And  they  answered,  We  will 
willingly  give  them.  And  they  spread  a  garment,  and  did  cast  therein  every 
man  the  earrings  of  his  prey.  And  the  weight  of  the  golden  earrings  that 
he  requested  was  a  thousand  and  seven  hundred  shekels  of  gold;  beside 
ornaments,  and  collars,  and  purple  raiment  that  was  on  the  kings  of  Midian, 
and  beside  the  chains  that  were  about  their  camels'  necks 

"And  Gideon  made  an  ephod  thereof,  and  put  it  in  his  city,  even  in  Oph- 
rah  :  and  all  Israel  went  thither  a  whoring  after  it:  which  thing  became  a 
snare  unto  Gideon,  and  to  his  house." 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  Gideon  sought  to  set  up  an 
idol  :  probably  it  was  a  clumsy  attempt  to  construct  a 
priestly  garment  with  a  breastplate,  and  an  ephod  (woven 
"■  of  gold,  blue,  purple,  scarlet,  and  fine  twined  linen  "  is  the 
Levitical  description)  to  which  the  breastplate  was  at- 
tached ;  and  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  it  was  very  gorgeous 
and  very  ample.  It  is  not  said  that  all  the  gold  went  into 
it.  We  cannot  conceive  that  it  could  have  consumed  so 
much  as  was  given  to  him. 

"Thus  was  Midian  subdued  before  the  children  of  Israel,  so  that  they 
lifted  up  their  heads  no  more.  The  country  was  in  quietness  forty  years 
in  the  days  of  Gideon." 

So  the  Midianites,  the  Amalekites,  with  their  tribes,  pass 
out  of  the  historical  record. 

"And  Jerubbaal  [Gideon]  the  son  of  Joash  went  and  dwelt  in  his  own 
house.  And  Gideon  had  threescore  and  ten  sons  of  his  body  begotten  :  for 
he  had  many  wives.  And  his  concubine  that  was  in  Shechem,  she  also  bare 
him  a  son,  whose  name  he  called  Abimelech.  And  Gideon  the  son  of 
Joash  died  in  a  good  old  age,  and  was  buried  in  the  sepulcher  of  Joash  his 
father,  in  Ophrah  of  the  Abi-ezrites." 

You  see  what  an  irregular  state  of  morals  existed  re- 
specting the  household  ;  yet  when  .3^ou  come  upon  the 
word  "concubine"  in  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  you 
must  not  attach  to  it  the  same  odious  meaning  which  is 
attached  to  it  in  our  day.  There  were  primary  wives  and 
secondary  wives  ;  and  the  secondary  wives  during  the 
early  history  of  the  race  were  legal  wives.  They  preserved 
their  moral  sense.  Their  position  in  the  family  was  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  and  permission  of  the  times.     They 


J 


80  t^inlE  STCDtES. 


were  regular  members  of  the  liousehold,  although  they 
occupied  a  subordinate  station  in  it.  It  seems  that  one  of 
the  wiv^es,  or  concubines  (secondary  wives)  of  Gideon  was 
a  Shechemite  ;  and  it  was  of  this  foreign  wife — foreign 
from  the  tribes  of  Israel — that  Abimelech  was  born.  After 
Gideon's  death  he  came  back  to  the  people  and  conspired 
with  them,  and  they,  taking  his  part,  made  him  king  ;  and 
one  of  his  first  acts  of  authority  was  to  slay  his  brethren, 
the  sons  of  Gideon,  of  whom  there  were  some  seventy. 
Then  he  went  into  various  w^ars  ;  and  there  was  rebellion 
against  him  ;  and  in  quelling  that  rebellion  he  besieged  a 
city,  and  made  an  attack  upon  it,  and  a  woman  threw  part 
of  a  millstone  off  from  the  wall  and  hit  him  on  the  head. 
Then  he  called  his  armor-bearer,  and  said  to  him, — 

"  Draw  thy  sword,  and  slay  me,  that  men  say  not  of  me,  A  woman  slew 
him  [Though  thousands  have  died  so,  stabbed  by  the  tongue,  which  is  worse 
than  any  sword].  And  his  young  man  thrust  him  through,  and  he  died 
[that  he,  too,  might  meet  death  at  the  hand  of  a  man]." 

After  Abimelech  came  a  succession  of  governors  and 
rulers — Judges — whose  acts  are  not  given  special  record, 
and  whose  names  are  merely  mentioned.  And  still  the 
children  of  Israel  did  that  which  was  evil  in  the  sight  of 
Jehovah  ;  over  and  again  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  their 
enemies  ;  repeatedly  arose  champion-judges  vrho  recalled 
them  from  their  evil  lives  and  reorganized  them  for  rescue 
and  victory  ;  and  again  the  story  revolves, — 

"But  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  judge  was  dead,  that  they  turned  back, 
and  dealt  more  corruptly  than  their  fathers  in  following  other  gods  to  serve 
them." 

Thus  are  we  brought  to  the  pathetic  account  of  Jephthah 
and  his  daughter.  After  that  follow  the  life  and  feats  of 
Samson  ;  to  be  succeeded  by  the  rise  of  tlie  princely  power 
of  one  Samuel.  To  these  I  shall  begin  to  call  your  atten- 
tion next  Sabbath  evening. 

In  looking  back,  now,  upon  the  events  of  this  dismal 
period  of  history,  I  do  not  know  that  they  are  any  lower, 
judged  by  our  moral  sense,  than  much  of  the  life  that  is 
going  on  around  us  to-day.     Institutions  that  hide  wicked- 


GIDEON.  3S1 

ness  are  as  prevalent  and  as  low  now  as  ever  they  were 
known  to  be  before  the  Flood,  or  since.  There  is  a  very 
respectable  representation  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  within 
twenty  minutes'  walk  from  the  ferry  in  New  York.  There 
is  beastliness,  there  are  crimes,  there  are  rotten  vices,  there 
are  various  forms  of  wickedness,  festering  in  many  and 
many  a  district  close  at  hand,  such  as  never  were  known  in 
antiquit}^ 

Take  the  tenement  houses  in  New  York.  While  they 
contain,  perhaps,  a  population  of  five  hundred  thousand 
people,  probably  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  of  these 
are  vice-  and  crime-breeders.  The  professors  of  medical 
institutions  tell  us  that  the  diseases  bred  in  these  wretched 
lazar-houses  are  so  various  and  so  numerous  that  medical 
students  are  attracted  to  them  as  places  where  they  can 
acquaint  themselves  v/ith  disorders  that  cannot  be  found 
in  any  other  city  in  the  land.  And  this  multitude  of  crime- 
breeders  fill  our  courts  and  jails  and  hospitals  with  human 
beings  that  probably  stand  lower  in  their  moral  conditions 
than  any  class  in  antiquity. 

In  the  olden  time  people  lived  out  of  doors,  and  their 
lives  were  disclosed.  They  feared  no  man.  Every  one 
did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own  sight.  Their  acts  were 
open,  so  that  everybody  could  see  them.  The  same  kind 
of  wickedness  which  they  perpetrated  is  to  a  great  extent 
indulged  in  to-day,  only  it  is  restrained  by  public  sentiment 
and  by  police  regulations.  It  is  not  at  all  to  be  wondered 
at  that  there  was  such  wickedness  in  those  ancient  days. 
It  certainly  ought  not  to  be  wondered  at  by  those  who  are 
familiar  with  the  lives  of  multitudes  of  men  in  our  modern 
cities.  It  was  there,  but  it  was  not  separated  from  the 
good.  It  was  not  repressed  by  law.  Therefore  it  was  like 
deadly  poison  filling  the  air  with  its  destructive  exhalations. 
It  was  out  of  such  material  that  the  church  came.  Who 
would  ever  think,  on  opening  the  ground,  and  seeing  the 
black  dirt  and  manure,  and  casting  the  seed  into  it,  that 
out  of  such  filth  there  would  come  the  fair  stem  and  the 
pure,  clean,  white  blossom,  so  fragrant  and   so  beautiful  I 


38 2  BIBLE   STUDIES. 

And  who,  looking  back  into  those  pest  holes  of  antiquity, 
so  feculent  with  the  depravity  of  the  human  passions,  would 
suppose  could  come  from  them  the  glorious  fruits  of  the 
gospel !  Yet,  in  that  matchless  picture  gallery,  the  eleventh 
of  Hebrews,  among  the  heroes  held  up  to  view  are  Rahab, 
the  harlot,  Barak,  the  general,  Gideon,  Jephthah,and  Sam- 
son, and  such  as  they,  who  were,  after  all,  brought  up  in 
households  of  idolatry,  and  surrounded  by  all  that  was 
impure,  but  who  believed  in  an  invisible  God.  They  had 
that  saving  quality  which  can  come  from  nothing  but  the 
spiritual  element.  Show  me  a  man  who  has  no  conscience, 
no  heaven-born  impulses,  no  sense  of  infinity,  and  I  will 
show  you  a  man  who  is  unquestionably  devoid  of  heroism. 
Show  me  a  man  who  has  these  attributes,  and  I  will  show 
you  a  man  who,  though  he  may  never  be  a  hero,  has  in  him 
that  stuff  from  which,  under  favoring  circumstances,  heroes 
are  made. 

Let  us  bless  God  that  the  conditions  in  our  well  organ- 
ized institution  of  the  family,  and  that  the  influences  which 
surround  us  in  the  street,  are  such  as  to  inspire  us  to  aim 
at  higher  and  nobler  lives  ;  and  may  we  realize  the  respon- 
sibility which  is  laid  upon  us  by  our  superior  privileges  to 
contribute  to  the  elevation  of  others  who  are  less  fortunate 
in  these  respects  than  ourselves. 


XXI. 

JEPHTHAH. 


In  continuing  these  early  tracings  of  the  Scriptures,  the 
more  one  reads  them  the  more  he  feels  the  distance  which 
there  is  between  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New.  It  is 
not  a  distance  of  time  alone.  The  moral  distance  is  even 
greater  than  the  distance  in  chronology.  The  characters 
that  rise  up  in  the  Old  Testament  are  simply  impossible  to 
the  New  Testament  history.  We  cannot  conceive  of  any- 
thing that  would  be  more  astonishing  than  a  character  in 
the  Gospels  like  that  of  the  hilarious  giant  Samson,  whose 
history  will  follow  this,  delineated  from  life,  with  his  biog- 
raphy. The  anachronism  would  be  shocking.  It  would 
jar  like  discord  in  a  symphony.  Such  a  character  does  not 
belong  to  the  New  Testament  age,  nor  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment style  of  thinking.  Samson  was  a  primitive  man.  So 
was  Jephthah.  All  others  who  lived  at  the  time  when  the 
history  recorded  in  the  book  of  Judges  was  enacted  were 
primitive  people.  Even  the  prophet  Samuel  would  be 
greatly  out  of  place  as  one  who  figured  in  New  Testament 
times.  Vou  could  not  connect  him  with  any  of  the  x\postles, 
and  still  less  could  you  connect  him  with  the  Master.  Con- 
ceive, for  the  moment,  of  that  stern  old  priest  bearing  iron 
rule,  and  sitting  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  ;  it  would  be  like  one 
of  the  gigantic  Egyptian  figures  sitting  before  Apollo  in  the 
Grecian  sculpture, — strong,  harsh,  rude,  in  contrast  with 
perfection  of  beauty,  inwardly  and  outwardly. 

So  then  we  find  a  great  deal  to  learn,  and  very  little  to 
copy,  in  these  ancient  records.     There  is  much  that  excites 


Sunday  evening,  April  20,  1S79.     Lkssox  :  Psa.  cxli. 


38 1  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

admiration  and  sympathy,  but  scarcely  anything  fur  imi- 
tation. The  virtues  of  those  of  whom  we  read  as  having 
lived  in  the  remote  past  were  virtues  that  broke  out  in 
great  power  from  untrained  natural  affections  and  gifts  : 
but  of  that  which  we  mean  by  grace,  or  of  that  wliich  is 
the  fruit  of  spiritual  culture,  begun  early  and  continued 
through  life,  they  had  none.  There  was  no  provision  for 
it — none  in  the  Mosaic  economy,  and  none  in  the  institu- 
tions which  we  have  -spoken  of  thus  far.  For  morality, 
yes  ;  a  great  deal  :  and  for  that  simple,  single  strain  of 
rclisfion  which  teaches  man  to  look  God  ward,  ves  :  but  for 
the  higher  and  finer  grace  of  spirituality,  no.  That  grew  up 
apparently  by  and  by  of  itself.  That  is  to  say,  under  that 
dispensation  of  Providence  by  which  the  best  things  are 
steadily  evolved  out  of  inferior  things,  gradually  the  w^orld 
came  to  institutions  higher  and  to  culture  deeper,  and 
finally  through  Jesus  Christ  to  a  spirituality  loftier  than 
any  that  had  been  known  on  earth  before. 

There  were  three  dramas  enacted.  I  despair  of  being 
able,  as  I  desired,  to  group  them  to-night,  and  present 
them  in  their  threefold  aspect.  They  are  the  three  dramas 
that  close  the  book  of  Judges. 

They  were  geographically  located  at  wide  distances  from 
each  other.  They  are,  first,  the  history  of  Jephthah,  which 
took  place  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Jordan  ;  second,  the 
history  of  the  exit  or  partial  exit  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin, 
which  took  place  near  the  middle  of  Palestine  ;  and,  third, 
the  history  of  Samson  of  the  tribe  of  Dan,  on  the  western 
border  of  that  country,  touching  the  very  sea.  That  of 
Jephthah  is  in  some  respects  more  remarkable,  having  a 
deeper  tragical  element,  with  less  rudeness,  than  either  of 
the  others. 

Jephthah  was  an  illegitimate  child.  When  he  grew  to 
man's  estate  his  father's  other  sons — his  brothers — con- 
ceived against  him  a  violent  prejudice.  Undoubtedly  it 
iirose  from  the  strength  of  his  character.  Jephthah  was  a 
great  man — or,  as  the  record  has  it,  a  mighty  man  of  valor 
— and  they  expelled  him  from  the  family. 


JEPHTHAII.  385 

"  Thou  shalt  not  inherit  in  our  father's  house  ;  for  iliou  art  the  son  of  a 
strange  \\onian." 

Family  pride  is  a  moral  element  which  may  be  very  cruel 
at  times,  but  which  yet  is  eminently  conservative.  It  is  a 
means  of  preserving  honor  ;  often  it  brings  to  bear  upon 
men  motives  that  hold  them  up  when  all  other  exterior 
things  fail  :  and  we  cannot  blame  the  brethren  that  they 
should  not  want  the  son  of  a  strange  woman  to  inherit 
with  the  legitimate  children  of  the  household. 

"  Then  Jephthah  fled  from  his  brethren,  and  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Tob." 

Nobody  knows  wdiere  Tob  was.  Most  likely  it  was  in 
the  extreme  south  of  Moab,  and  on  the  borders  of  Arabia 

Petraea. 

When  Jephthah  w^as  thus  expelled  he  became  a  chief— 
that  is  to  say,  a  head-robber— and  levied  on  the  weak  for 
all  that  was  necessary  to  support  himself  and  the  followers 
who  soon  flocked  to  his  leadership.     We  should  have  called 
him  a  freebooter.     That  calling  was  never  very  respecta- 
ble, but  it  was  much  more  nearly  so  in  those  days,  when 
every  man  did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes,  when 
no   legitimate  cause  of  action  was  deemed  essential,  and 
when  nations  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  eat  each  other  up. 
Jephthah  only  did  on  a  small  scale  that  wdiich  nations  were 
doing  on  a  large  scale.     It  did  not  seem   so  bad  then  as  it 
does  now,  measured  by  our  modern  ideas  ;  and   we  must 
not  carry  back  our  moral  judgment  to  critically  judge  of 
the  characters  of  men  or  their  dealings  then  ;  for  though 
cruelty  is  always  cruelty,  injustice  is  always  injustice,  and 
wickedness  is  always  wickedness,  yet  the  judgments  which 
we   pass   upon  relative   wickedness,  injustice,  and   cruelt) 
vary  in  different  ages,  according  to  the  degree  of  light  and 
development  which  prevails  ;    and  at  that  time  there  was 
very  little  light  and  development,  and  a  glorious  oppor- 
tunity for  wrong-doing. 

"And  it  came  to  pass  in  process  of  time,  that  the  children  of  Ammon 
made  war  against  Israel.     And  it  was  so,  that  when  the  children  of  Ammon 
made  war  against  Israel,  the  elders  of  Gilcad  went  to  fetch  Jephthah  out  of 
25 


386  BIBLE  STUD  IKS. 

the  land  of  Tob  :  and  they  said  unto  Jephthah,  Come,  and  be  our  captain, 
that  \vc  may  fight  with  the  children  of  Amnion." 

Then  follows  an  exhibition  of  wliat  you  will  find  in 
Jephthah's  character  all  the  way  through — brilliant  com- 
mon sense  and  sound  reasoning.  Though  lie  was  a  man  of 
violence,  a  rude  man,  you  will  be  struck  that  at  every  step 
reason  ran  before  his  hands  or  his  feet,  and  he  acted  along 
a  line  of  thought. 

"And  Jephthah  said  unto  the  elders  of  Gilead,  Did  not  ye  hate  me,  and 
expel  me  out  of  my  father's  house  '^.  and  why  are  ye  come  unto  me  now 
when  ye  are  in  distress  ? 

"And  the  elders  of  Gilead  said  unto  Je])hthah,  Therefore  we  turn  again 
to  thee  now,  that  thou  mayest  go  with  us,  and  fight  against  the  children  of 
Ammon,  and  be  our  head  over  all  the  inhabitants  of  Gilead." 

Now  comes  his  forethought  again.  It  was  quite  enough 
to  be  turned  out  once.  He  did  not  mean  to  run  the  chance 
of  a  second  expulsion  after  he  had  delivered  them,  and  so 
he  comes  to  terms  wdth  them. 

"And  Jephthah  said  unto  the  elders  of  Gilead,  If  ye  bring  me  home  again 
to  fight  against  the  children  of  Ammon,  and  Jehovah  deliver  them  before 
me,  shall  I  be  your  head  [I,  a  bastard,  an  exile,  and  an  outcast]  ? " 

He  put  it  to  them,  wdiether  they  wanted  to  serve  them- 
selves by  him  at  a  pinch,  or  whether  they  meant  tiiat  he 
should  be  their  head  as  an  established  thing.  He  was  de- 
termined that  it  should  be  understood  that  if  he  led  their 
armies  to  victory  he  should  have  the  glory  and  the  au- 
thority. 

"The  elders  of  Gilead  said  unto  Jephthah,  Jehovah  be  witness  between 
us,  if  we  do  not  so  according  to  thy  words." 

That  was  something  w'ortli  while. 

"Then  Jephthah  went  with  the  elders  of  Gilead,  and  the  people  made 
him  head  and  captain  over  them  :  and  Jephthah  uttered  all  his  words  before 
Jehovah  in  Mizpeh." 

The  Ammonites,  it  seems,  had  not  actually  commenced 
the  invasion  ;  they  were  gathering  their  forces  :  and  the 
first  step  that  Jephthah  took  w^as  diplomatic.  He  sent  out 
word  to  them,  asking  them  why  they  were  making  war 
upon  him  and  his  people,  and  disturbing  their  peace. 


JErilTHAIL  ^^Zy 

"  What  hast  thou  to  do  with  me,  that  thou  art  come  against  me  to  fitrht 
in  my  land  ?  " 

He  had  assumed,  now,  not  simply  the  position  but  the 
tone  of  royalty. 

"  The  king  of  the  children  of  Amnion  answered  unto  the  messengers  of 
Jephthalr[and  the  answer  seems  at  first  to  have  been  a  perfectly  satisfactorv 
one],  Because  Israel  took  away  my  land,  when  they  came  up  out  of  E^vpt, 
from  Arnon  even  unto  Jabbok,  and  unto  Jordan  :  now  therefore  restore 
those  lands  again  peaceably." 

If  I  were  to  read  no  further,  everybody  would  say,  "Well, 
they  had  the  right  of  it ;  those  were  the  lands  of  their 
fathers." 

"And  Jephthah  sent  messengers  again  unto  the  king  of  the  children  of 
Anmion  :  and  said  unto  him,  Thus  saith  Jephthah  :  Israel  took  not  away 
the  land  of  Moab,  nor  the  land  of  the  children  of  Amnion." 

That  is  to  sa}^,  Israel  did  not  take  it  away  ruthlessly  or 
unjustly.     Then  he  recites  the  history. 

"When  Israel  came  up  from  Egypt,  and  walked  through  the  wilderness 
unto  the  Red  Sea,  and  came  to  Kadesh ;  then  Israel  sent  messengers  unto 
the  king  of  Edoni,  saying,  Let  me,  I  pray  thee,  pass  through  thy  land  :  but 
the  king  of  Edom  would  not  hearken  thereto.  And  in  like  manner  they 
sent  unto  the  king  of  Moab  :  but  he  would  not  consent  :  and  Israel  abode 
in  Kadesh.  Then  they  went  along  through  the  wilderness,  and  compassed 
the  land  of  Edom,  and  the  land  of  Moab,  and  came  by  the  east  side  of  the 
land  of  Moab,  and  pitched  on  the  other  side  of  Arnon,  but  came  not  within 
the  border  of  Moab:  for  Arnon  was  the  border  of  Moab.  And  Israel  sent 
messengers  unto  Sihon  king  of  the  Amorites,  the  king  of  Heshbon  ;  and 
Israel  said  unto  him,  Let  us  pass,  w^e  pray  thee,  through  thy  land  into  my 
place.  But  Sihon  trusted  not  Israel  to  pass  through  his  coast  [his  border] : 
but  Sihon  gathced  all  his  people  together,  and  pitched  in  Jahaz,  and  fought 
against  Israel.  And  Jehovah  the  God  of  Israel  delivered  Sihon  and  all  his 
people  into  the  hand  of  Israel,  and  they  smote  them  :  so  Israel  possessed 
all  the  land  of  the  Amorites,  the  inhabitants  of  that  country.  And  they 
l^ossessed  all  the  coasts  of  the  Amorites,  from  Arnon  even  unto  Jabbok, 
and  from  the  wilderness  even  unto  Jordan. 

"  So  now  Jehovah  the  God  of  Israel  hath  dispossessed  the  Amorites  from 
before  his  people  Israel,  and  shouldest  thou  possess  it.''" 

The  argument  is  very  conclusive  :  ''  You  say  you  are 
going  to  get  back  your  old  country  that  we  have  wrested 
from  3'ou  ;  but  how  came  it  to  be  in  our  possession  ?  You 
would  not  permit  us  to  go  through  it  ;  and  when  we  made 
a  circuit  clear  around  about  Moab  and  the  Amorites,  and 


388  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

endeavored  to  pass  by  in  the  most  peaceable  manner,  they 
sought  our  extermination,  and  we  defended  ourselves,  and 
overthrew  your  fathers,  and  took  your  lands  by  a  war 
which  you  yourselves  brought  on.  It  was  not  Israel,  it 
was  Jehovah  the  God  of  Israel,  who  took  your  land.  Now, 
do  you  expect  to  get  it  back  again  ?  " 

Then  he  makes  an  argument  ad  Jiouiijion.  He  throws 
the  responsibility  of  their  own  god  home  upon  them. 
"Whenever  you  go  out  imder  the  direction  of  your  god 
and  gain  a  land  by  victory,  do  not  you  think  yourselves  en- 
titled to  it?" 

"  Wilt  not  thou  possess  that  which  Chemosh  thy  god  giveth  thee  to 
possess  ?  So  whomsoever  Jehovah  our  God  shall  drive  out  from  before 
us,  them  will  we  possess." 

He  was  ready  to  honor  either  of  the  titles.  He  recognized 
their  divine  Providence  and  that  of  the  Israelites  :  but 
claimed  precedence  for  his  own  God. 

"And  now  art  thou  anything  better  than  Balak  the  son  of  Zippor,  king  of 
Moab  ?  did  he  ever  strive  against  Israel,  or  did  he  ever  fight  against  them  ? 
While  Israel  dwelt  in  Heshbon  and  her  towns,  and  in  Aroer  and  her  towns, 
and  in  all  the  cities  that  be  along  by  the  coast  of  Arnon,  three  hundred 
years ;  why  therefore  did  ye  not  recover  them  within  that  time  ? " 

Possession  is  more   than  nine-tenths  of    the  law,  when 

possession  is  by  the  sword. 

"  Wherefore  I  have  not  sinned  against  thee,  but  thou  doest  me  wrong  to 
war  against  me  :  Jehovah  the  Judge,  be  judge  this  day  between  the  children 
of  Israel  and  the  children  of  Ammon. 

"  Howbeit  the  king  of  the  children  of  Ammon  hearkened  not  unto  the 
words  of  Jephthah  which  he  sent  him." 

Thus  far  the  diplomatic  passage  was  carried  before  the 
war.  Jephthah  was  on  the  defensive.  He  was  not  anxious 
to  fight,  but  he  justified  the  title  of  his  people,  and  argued 
that  if  it  was  not  just  it  ought  to  have  been  shown  long 
before.  The  Israelites  had  dwelt  there  for  three  hundred 
years,  tliey  had  gained  a  right  to  the  lands  by  a  protracted 
period  of  undisturbed  possession,  and  the  Ammonites  had 
forfeited  their  title  to  them  by  non-use. 

This  discussion  resulted  in  no  agreement,  and  the  war 
was  to  go  on.     So  Jephthah  gathered  his  hosts.     They  had 


jErnriiAJi.  389 

a  general  ;  but  they  were  superstitious, — for  you  find  that 
an  unintelligent  religion  is  always  superstition, — and  there 
must  be  a  vow  and  a  covenant  made  with  their  God. 

"And  Jephthah  vowed  a  vow  unto  Jehovah,  and  said,  If  thou  shalt  with- 
out fail  deliver  the  children  of  Ammon  into  mine  hands,  then  it  shall  be, 
that  whatsoever*  cometh  forth  of  the  doors  of  my  house  to  meet  me,  when  I 
return  in  peace  from  the  children  of  Ammon,  shall  surely  be  Jehovah's,  and 
I  will  offer  it  up  for  a  burnt  offering." 

He  had  no  business  to  make  such  a  vow ;  and  he  had  no 
business  to  keep  it  when  it  was  made.  No  man  has  a 
right  to  break  a  pledge  that  he  has  unwittingly  made,  in 
respect  to  things  that  are  moral,  and  are  within  the  right- 
ful control  of  his  will.  If,  therefore,  a  man  has  made  a 
vow,  or  covenant,  or  promise,  without  sufficient  forethought 
of  things  that  might  come  to  pass,  he  must  not  draw  back 
when  he  finds  that  it  is  to  his  damage  ;  he  must  fulfill  it, 
though  it  mulcts  him,  though  it  impoverishes  him,  so  long 
as  it  is  within  the  range  of  ordinary  moralit}'.  But  no  man 
has  a  right  to  make  a  promise  or  covenant  or  vow  that  is 
extra-moral,  outside  of  permission.  Where  a  man  makes  a 
blind  covenant,  taking  the  chances  of  the  future,  it  opens 
endless  doors  to  possibility,  and  he  has  no  right  to  keep 
that  covenant  when  it  may  involve  others  in  the  grossest 
wrong,  cruelt}",  or  injustice.  So,  I  repeat,  Jephthah  had  no 
right  to  make  the  vow  he  did,  it  was  morally  improper  ; 
and  he  had  no  right  to  keep  it,  under  the  circumstances. 
If  keeping  it  would  have  brought  damage  simply  upon 
himself,  it  would  have  been  his  duty  to  keep  it  ;  but  if  one 
makes  a  vow  that  is  wrong,  he  only  makes  it  worse  by 
keeping  it.  Jephthah,  however,  being  superstitious,  kept 
the  covenant  he  made,  though  it  was  wrong. 

"  So  Jephthah  passed  over  unto  the  children  of  Ammon  to  fight  against 
them;  and  Jehovah  delivered  them  into  his  hands.  And  he  smote  them 
from  Aroer,  even  till  thou  come  to  Minnith,  even  twenty  cities,  and  unto 
the  plain  of  the  vineyards,  with  a  very  great  slaughter.  Thus  the  children 
of  Ammon  were  subdued  before  the  children  of  Israel." 

Jephthah,  flushed  with  victory,  turned  his  steps  home- 


*  Or  "whosoever."     Rez'.  Vers,  man^in. 


390  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

ward.  He  was  a  redeemed  exile.  He  should  no  longer  en- 
dure the  scorn  of  his  brethren.  He  was  now  their  head — 
the  head  of  the  house  ;  more,  he  was  the  redeemer  of  his 
tribe  and  of  his  people,  and  their  head  also.  And  with 
what  exultation,  wdth  what  wild  joy,  did  this  heroic  man 
approach  his  home  !  He  had  forgotten,  doubtless,  his 
vow  ;  or,  if  he  thought  of  it,  he  probably  marveled  what 
might  be  the  first  thing  he  should  meet.  It  might  be  some 
of  the  flock  of  sheep,  straying  out  upon  the  way  in  which 
he  should  come. 

But  no,  it  vv^as  his  daughter  ! 

"  Jephthah  came  to  Mizpeh  unto  his  house,  and,  behold,  his  daughter 
came  out  to  meet  him  with  timbrels  and  with  dances  :  and  she  was  his  onl}' 
child ;  beside  her  he  had  neither  son  nor  daughter." 

-Was  there  ever,  since  the  world  began,  such  a  damsel, 
and  such  music,  that  greeted  the  eyes  and  ears  of  a  father, 
as  this  sweet  girl  \yith  her  joyous  dancing  and  her  tim- 
brels !  Was  there  ever  such  a  cruel  dance  as  that  with 
which  she  came  out,  bearing  laurels  in  her  hands  to  en- 
circle the  brow  of  her  victorious  father  !  With  joy  in  her 
eyes,  and  love  in  her  heart,  and  triumph  on  her  brow,  she 
went  forth  to  meet  him.  The  sight  of  her  smote  him  as 
with  a  poisoned  arrow.  It  fell  upon  him  as  darkness  and 
midnight. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  when  he  saw  her,  that  he  rent' his  clothes,  and  said, 
Alas,  ni}^  daughter  !  thou  hast  brought  me  very  low,  and  thou  art  one  of 
them -that  trouble  me:  for  I  have  opened  my  mouth  unto  Jehovah,  and  I 
cannot  go  back." 

He  was  held  fast  by  the  terrible  rashness  of  his  vow.  It 
was  wrong;  but  he  thought  it  was  right.  He  sacrificed 
every  instinct  of  a  father,  he  trampled  upon  the  strong 
feelings  of  a  parent  toward  a  child  that  he  loved  more  than 
his  own  life,  under  the  power  of  superstition.  By  this 
power  were  overruled  in  liim  all  the  great  guiding  prin- 
ciples of  nature. 

Now  the  daughter  shines  out  beautiful  as  a  star  when 
the  storm  is  lifted  upon  the  horizon.  There  is  not  a  love- 
lier phase,  there  is  not  a  sweeter  exhibition  of   woman's 


jEPHTilAlL  391 

nature,  in  the  whole  compass  of  sacred  history.  There 
was  no  shock,  no  wild  protest,  no  breaking  down  in  grief. 
She  sunk  herself  in  tlie  joy  of  her  country  and  in  the 
glory  of  her  father. 

"  She  said  unto  him,  My  father,  if  thou  hast  opened  thy  mouth  unto 
Jehovah,  do  to  me  according  to  that  which  hath  proceeded'out  of  thy  mouth." 

Is  there  anything  grander  than  that  in  human  history  ? 
It  was  his  only  daughter,  of  tender  years. 

"  Forasmuch  as  Jehovah  hath  taken  vengeance  for  thee  of  thine  enemies, 
even  of  the  children  of  Amnion." 

"  My  country  has  been  saved,  my  father  has  been  victo- 
rious, and  what  matters  it  what  becomes  of  me  ?  Let  him 
fulfill  his  vow."     Such  was  her  thought. 

"And  she  said  unto  her  father,  Let  this  thing  be  done  for  me:  let  me 
alone  two  months,  that  I  may  go  up  and  down  upon  the  mountains,  and 
bewail  my  virginity,  I  and  my  fellows." 

In  a  land  where  to  be  wed  and  become  a  mother  of  chil- 
dren was  the  highest  earthly  felicity,  to  be  cut  off  in  the 
morning  of  life,  without  conjugal  love  and  household  joy, 
was  the  greatest  misfortune,  and  her  only  petition  was 
this  :  "  Since  I  must  die  thus,  let  m.e  go  and  prepare 
myself  b\^  mourning  and  meditation  in  the  mountain." 

Dear  child  !  She  saw  no  little  ones  around  her  table, 
she  experienced  no  love  and  no  gratitude  in  a  household 
in  which  she  was  the  honored  wife  and  mother  ;  but  to  the 
end  of  the  world  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  will  lift 
up  their  hearts  in  admiration  and  in  praise  of  her.  Her 
name  has  gathered  to  itself  that  which,  if  she  had  lived  in 
the  ordinary  way  of  human  life,  she  would  never  have  in- 
herited. 

"And  he  said,  Go." 

If  there  was  ever  anything  vexatious  in  connection  with 
this  account,  it  is  the  attempt  of  commentators,  for  the  last 
two  hundred  years,  to  regulate  the  Old  Testament  by  the 
ethics  of  the  New,  and  to  show  that  because  the  keeping 
of  his  vow  by  Jephthah  would  have  been  a  cruel  and  wan- 
ton thing,  it  is  not  probable  that  he  did  it,  making  believe, 


392 


BIBLE  STUDIES. 


that  instead  of  sacrificing  his  daughter  he  dedicated  her  to 
eternal  virginity  m  some  retreat  on  the  mountains. 

You  must  bear  in  mind  that  among  the  peoples  and  in 
the  time  of  Jephtliah,  and  in  the  land  where  he  lived,  the 
sacrifice  of  men  or  their  children  was  common.  It  was  in 
accordance  with  the  law.  In  close  contiguity  with  that 
scene  we  have  this  record. 

"When  the  k'ng  of  Moab  saw  that  the  battle  was  too  sore  for  him,  he 
took  with  him  seven  hundred  men  that  drew  swords,  to  break  through  even 
unto  the  king  of  Edom  :  but  they  could  not.  Then  he  took  his  eldest  son 
that  should  have  reigned  in  his  stead,  and  offered  him  for  a  burnt  offering 
upon  the  wall.  And  there  was  great  indignation  against  Israel :  and  they 
departed  from  him,  and  returned  to  their  own  land." 

Here,  within  a  very  short  period,  was  the  instance  of  the 
sacrifice  by  the  king  of  Moab  of  his  eldest  son,  to  pro- 
pitiate the  adverse  god.  We  read  in  Micah  that  Balak 
offered  to  slay  his  eldest  son  if  God  would  give  him  vic- 
tory over  the  Israelites.  Jephthah,  who  was  living  in  that 
very  region,  and  among  this  very  people,  made  a  covenant 
which  amounted  to  a  vow  to  sacrifice  his  only  child.  In- 
deed, the  offering  of  Isaac  by  Abraham  was  a  sort  of 
shadow  of  that  which  prevailed  throughout  that  land. 

Unquestionably  the  daughter  of  Jephthah  came  back  to 
her  father's  house,  and  gave  up  her  sweet  life,  and  was 
offered  upon  the  altar  as  a  lamb  in  sacrifice.  A  beautiful 
creature  ;  a  very  sad  death  ;  but  one  of  the  sweetest  of  the 
scenes  that  lie  along  the  mountains  and  rugged  defiles  of 
the  Old  Testament. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  at  the  end  of  two  months,  that  she  returned  unto 
her  father,  who  did  with  her  according  to  his  vow  which  he  had  vowed  :  and 
she  knew  no  man.  And  it  was  a  custom  in  Israel,  that  the  daughters  of 
Israel  went  yearly  to  lament  the  daughter  of  Jephthah  the  Gileaditc  four 
days  in  a  year." 

There  is  only  one  more  scene  in  the  life  of  Jephthah,  and 
that,  too,  is  characteristic.  You  will  recollect  that,  in  the 
history  of  Gideon,  after  he  had  gained  the  victory  by  which, 
he  had  rescued  his  country,  as  soon  as  he  had  taken  the 
fords  of  the  Jordan,  and  slain  the  common  enemy,  the 
Ephraimites  arrogantly  and  enviously  turned  on  him  be- 


JEPHTHAH.  393 

cause  they  had  not  been  in  tlie  battle,  and  said  it  was  his 
fault.     Precisely  that  identical  thing  takes  place  again. 

"The  men  of  Ephraim  [the  same  tribe]  gathered  themselves  together, 
and  went  northward,  and  said  unto  Jephthah,  Wherefore  passedst  thou  over 
to  fight  against  the  children  of  Amnion,  and  didst  not  call  us  to  go  with 
thee  ?  we  will  burn  thine  house  upon  thee  with  fire." 

Jephthah,  instead  of  retorting,  uses  reason  once  more. 

"  I  and  my  people  were  at  great  strife  with  the  children  of  Ammon ;  and 
when  I  called  you,  ye  delivered  me  not  out  of  their  hands.  And  when  I 
saw  that  ye  delivered  me  not,  I  put  my  life  in  my  hands,  and  passed  over 
against  the  children  of  Ammon,  and  Jehovah  delivered  them  into  my  hand  : 
wherefore  then  are  ye  come  up  unto  me  this  day,  to  fight  against  me  ?  " 

The  Ephraimites  had  gone  beyond  the  Jordan  into  the 
land  of  Gilead,  to  seek  him. 

"  Then  Jephthah  gathered  together  all  the  men  of  Gilead,  and  fought 
with  Ephraim :  and  the  men  of  Gilead  smote  Ephraim,  because  they  said, 
Ye  Gileadites  are  fugitives  of  Ephraim  among  the  Ephraimites,  and  among 
the  Manassites." 

There  was  a  feud  between  these  two  peoples.  They 
were  essentially  of  the  same  stock..  The  Ephraimites  had 
possession  on  both  sides  of  the  Jordan.  It  was  said  of 
those  on  the  east  side — the  Gileadites — that  they  were 
fugitives. 

"And  the  Gileadites  took  the  passages  of  Jordan  before  the  Ephraimites  : 
and  it  was  so,  that  when  those  Ephraimites  which  were  escaped  said,  Let 
me  go  over ;  that  the  men  of  Gilead  said  unto  him,  Art  thou  an  Ephraimite  ? 
If  he  said,  Nay;  then  said  they  unto  him,  Say  now  Shibboleth  [meaning, 
probably,  "  a  stream,"  and  referring  to  the  Jordan,  which  separated  the  two 
peoples] :  and  he  said,  Sibboleth :  for  he  could  not  frame  to  pronounce  it 
right." 

It  was  like  the  failure  of  a  German  or  a  Frenchman  to 
correctly  pronounce  some  English  word.  Instead  of  giving 
the  sound  of  //  with  that  of  s,  the  Gileadite  made  a  simple 
hiss,  and  so  betrayed  his  hostile  nationality. 

"Then  they  took  him,  and  slew  him." 

They  slew  him  because  he  could  not  say  Shibboleth  ;  and 
that  kind  of  slaying  has  been  going  on  ever  since.  When 
in  the  ordinances  men  cannot  say  ^'///<^boleth,  but  say  Sibho- 
leth,  they  are  slain  with  the  sword   of  the  church.     Since 


394  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

there  have  been  Christian  denominations  they  have  not 
given  over  making  war  one  upon  another  on  grounds  as 
narrow  as  that  between  sJiib  and  sib.  Every  one  mounts 
his  conscience  on  some  doctrinal  distinction  ;  and  then  the 
devil  is  riding  on  it, — for  a  fiery  conscience  is  nearer  like 
the  devil  than  anything  else  that  we  know  anything  about. 

*' Jephthah  judged  Israel  six  years.  Then  died  Jephthah  the  Gileadite, 
and  was  buried  in  one  of  the  cities  of  Gilead." 

The  next  account  to  which  we  come  is  that  terrible  one 
which  is  given  in  the  nineteenth  of  Judges,  and  which  is  fit 
to  be  made  known  only  because  it  gives  such  a  portrayal 
of  the  whole  way  of  life  at  that  time.  It  is  very  hard  for 
us  to  see  how  the  Israelites  were  under  a  special  providence, 
when  we  consider  that  they  went  through  a  period  of 
three  or  four  hundred  years  almost  totally  without  any 
indications  of  leadership,  except  these  sporadic  local  fight- 
ing-chiefs called  judges,  and  that  they  left  such  an  odious 
history  as  here  follows. 

"It  came  to  pass  in  those  days,  when  there  was  no  king  in  Israel,  that 
there  was  a  certain  Levite  sojourning  on  the  side  of  Mount  Ephraim,  who 
took  to. him  a  concubine  [a  kind  of  secondary  wife]  out  of  Beth-lehem- 
judah." 

It  seems  that  they  had  a  quarrel,  and  she  went  home  to 
her  father.  He  could  not  live  with  her,  nor  could  he  live 
without  her  ;  and  that  is  often  the  case. 

"And  her  husband  arose,  and  went  after  her,  to  speak  friendly  unto  her, 
and  to  bring  her  again  [Time  and  distance  are  oftentimes  the  best  jioul- 
tices  for  family  difficulties],  having  his  servant  with  him,  and  a  couple  of 
asses  :  and  she  brought  him  into  her  father's  house  [She  seems  to  be  pla- 
cated now] ;  and  when  the  father  of  the  damsel  saw  him,  he  rejoiced  to  meet 
him." 

Now  coroes  a  scene  of  great  conviviality. 

"And  his  father-in-law,  the  damsel's  father,  retained  him  ;  and  he  abode 
with  him  three  days  :  so  they  did  eat  and  drink,  and  lodged  there." 

That  was  all  tiiey  had  to  do  for  amusement  in  those  days. 

"  It  came  to  pass  on  the  fourth  day,  when  they  arose  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, that  he  rose  up  to  depart :  and  the  damsel's  father  said  unto  his  son-in- 
law,  Comfort  thine  heart  with  a  morsel  of  bread,  and  afterward  go  your 
way.     And  they  sat  down,  and  did  eat  and  drink  both  of  them  together,  for 


JEPliTHAh:  395 

the  damsel's  father  had  said  unto  the  man,  Be  content,  I  pray  thee,  and  tarry- 
all  night,  and  let  thine  heart  be  merry.  And  when  the  man  rose  up  to  de- 
part, his  father-in-law  urged  him  :  therefore  he  lodged  there  again." 

They  had  a  bout — a  three  days'  bout. 

*'  He  arose  early  in  the  morning  on  the  fifth  day  to  depart :  and  the  dam- 
sel's father  said,  Comfort  thine  heart,  I  pray  thee." 

He  was  a  good-natured,  merry,  hospitable  old  fellow. 
He  was  fond  of  good  company,  he  liked  this  man, — who 
was  probably  a  likable  man. 

"And  they  tarried  until  afternoon,  and  they  did  eat,  both  of  them.  And 
when  the  man  rose  up  to  depart,  he,  and  his  concubine,  and  his  servant,  his 
father-in-law,  the  damsel's  father,  said  unto  him.  Behold,  now  the  day  draw- 
eth  toward  evening,  I  pray  you  tarry  all  night :  behold,  the  day  groweth  to 
an  end,  lodge  here,  that  thine  heart  may  be  merry :  and  to-morrow  get  you 
early  on  your  way,  that  thou  mayest  go  home.  But  the  man  would  not  tarry 
that  night,  but  he  rose  up  and  departed,  and  came  over  against  Jebus,  which 
is  Jerusalem  ;  and  there  were  with  him  two  asses  saddled,  his  concubine  also 
was  with  him.  And  when  they  were  by  Jebus,  the  day  was  far  spent ;  and 
the  servant  said  unto  his  master,  Come,  I  pray  thee,  and  let  us  turn  in  into 
this  city  of  the  Jebusites,  and  lodge  in  it.  And  his  master  said  unto  him, 
We  will  not  turn  aside  hither  into  the  city  of  a  stranger  [You  will  recollect 
that  Jebus,  Jerusalem,  was  not  subdued  till  after  the  time  of  David],  that  is 
not  of  the  children  of  Israel ;  we  will  pass  over  to  Gibeah." 

That  was  one  of  their  own  country-place  towns. 

"And  he  said  unto  his  servant,  Come,  and  let  us  draw  near  to  one  of  these 
places  to  lodge  all  night,  in  Gibeah,  or  in  Ramah.  And  they  passed  on 
and  went  their  way;  and  the  sun  went  down  upon  them  when  they  were  by 
Gibeah,  which  belongeth  to  Benjamin.  And  they  turned  aside  thither,  to 
go  in  and  to  lodge  in  Gibeah  :  and  when  he  went  in,  he  sat  him  down  in  a 
street  of  the  city  [according  to  the  way  of  the  East]:  for  there  was  no  man 
that  took  them  into  his  house  to  lodging." 

In  that  age  and  in  that  land  inhospitality  was  a  lack 
of  humanity.  In  most  places,  even  then,  a  stranger  under 
such  circumstances  would  have  been  invited  to  tarry  ;  but 
it  seems  that  in  this  city  of  unmitigated  wickedness, 
Gibeah  by  name,  the  people  were  reduced  to  a  condition 
as  bad  as  that  of  the  people  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

"And,  behold,  there  came  an  old  man  from  his  work  out  of  the  field  at 
even,  which  was  also  of  Mount  Ephraim;  and  he  sojourned  in  Gibeah:  but 
the  men  of  the  place  were  Benjamites.  And  when  he  had  lifted  up  his  eyes, 
he  saw  a  wavfarino;  man  in  the   street  of  the  citv:  and  the  old  man  said, 


396  DIPyLE  STUDIES. 

Whither  goest  thou  ?  aiul  whence  comest  thou  ?  And  he  said  unto  him,  We 
are  passing  from  Beth-lehem-judah  toward  the  side  of  Mount  Ephraim  ;  from 
thence  am  I  :  and  I  went  to  IJeth-lehem-judah,  but  I  am  now  going  to  the 
house  of  Jehovah;  and  there  is  no  man  that  receiveth  me  to  house.  Yet 
there  is  both  straw  and  provender  for  our  asses  ;  and  tliere  is  bread  and 
wme  also  for  me,  and  for  thy  handmaid,  and  for  the  young  man  which  is 
with  thy  servants  :  there  is  no  want  of  anything." 

In  otlier  words,  "  I  am  not  a  pauper  ;  I  am  not  begging 
for  anything  ;  I  have  all  that  I  want  ;  I  am  not  seeking  for 
anything  but  shelter.", 

"And  the  old  man  said,  Peace  be  with  thee  ;  howsoever  let  all  thy  wants 
lie  upon  me  ;  only  lodge  not  in  the  street.  So  he  brought  him  into  his 
house,  and  gave  provender  unto  the  asses  :  and  they  washed  their  feet,  and 
did  cat  and  drink." 

Now  came  the  terrible  catastrophe.  Men  of  the  cit}?", 
actuated  by  the  most  hideous  depravity,  besieged  the  house, 
and  demanded  the  stranger.  To  protect  him,  the  host 
laid  hold  on  the  man's  concubine  and  took  her  out  to 
them,  and,  when  the  woman  was  delivered  to  them,  with 
ribaldry  and  unnatural  cruelty  they  dragged  her  out  and 
subjected  her  to  the  basest  uses.  The  result  is  told  in  a 
few  words  that  can  hardly  have  a  parallel  for  simplicity. 

"  Then  came  the  woman  in  the  dawning  of  the  day,  and  fell  down  at  the 
door  of  the  man's  house  where  her  lord  was,  till  it  was  light.  And  her  lord 
rose  up  in  the  morning,  and  opened  the  doors  of  the  house,  and  went  out  to 
go  his  way :  and,  behold,  the  woman  his  concubine  was  fallen  down  at  the 
door  of  the  house,  and  her  hands  were  upon  the  threshold  And  he  said 
unto  her.  Up,  and  let  us  be  going.     But  none  answered, 

"  Then  the  man  took  her  up  upon  an  ass,  and  the  man  rose  up,  and  gat 
him  unto  his  place.  And  when  he  was  come  into  his  house,  he  took  a  knife, 
and  laid  hold  on  his  concubhie,  and  divided  her,  together  with  her  bones, 
into  twelve  pieces,  and  sent  her  into  all  the  coasts  of  Israel. 

"And  it  was  so,  that  all  that  saw  it  said,  There  was  no  such  deed  done 
nor  seen  from  the  day  that  the  children  of  Israel  came  up  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt  unto  this  day  :  consider  of  it,  take  advice,  and  speak  your  minds." 

What  a  messenger  and  what  a  message  to  send  to  all  the 
tribes  around  about ! 

"  Then  all  the  children  of  Israel  went  out,  and  the  congregation  was 
gathered  together  as  one  man,  from  Dan  eve«  to  Beer-sheba,  with  the  land 
of  Gilead,  unto  Jehovah  in  Mizpeh.  And  the  chiefs  of  all  the  people,  even 
of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  presented  themselves  in  the  assembly  of  the 


JEPHTHAIL  397 

people  of  God,  four  hundred  thousand  footmen  that  drew  sword.  (Now 
the  children  of  Benjamin  heard  that  the  children  of  Israel  were  gone  up  to 
Mizpeh.) 

"  Then  said  the  children  of  Israel,  Tell  us,  how  was  this  wickedness  ? 
And  the  Levite,  the  husband  of  the  woman  that  was  slain,  answered." 

And  he  gives  the  story  in  brief,  as  it  has  already  been 
narrated.     Then  he  said  : — 

"  Behold,  ye  are  all  children  of  Israel ;  give  here  your  advice  and  counsel. 
And  all  the  people  arose  as  one  man,  saying,  We  will  not  any  of  us  go  to 
his  tent,  neither  will  we  any  of  us  turn  into  his  house.  But  now  this  shall 
be  the  thing  which  we  will  do  to  Gibeah ;  we  will  go  up  by  lot  against  it." 

Lots  were  cast,  and  there  were  taken  ten  men  out  of  a 
hundred,  a  hundred  out  of  a  thousand,  and  a  thousand  out 
of  ten  thousand,  and  they  went  up  against  Gibeah,  and  they 
assaulted  it,  and  took  it,  and  put  to  the  sword  all  the  men, 
women,  and  children  in  it — eleven  tribes  against  this  one  ; 
for  when  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  was  told  to  deliver  up  the 
men  that  had  done  this  wickedness,  as  a  testimony  of  their 
horror,  and  to  separate  themselves  from  the  guilt  of  this 
public  crime,  they  refused.  The  tribal  spirit  ran  high  ; 
they  stood  up  for  their  own  kin,  and  they  went  willingly  to 
battle,  bringing  out  their  whole  armed  forces  ;  for  they 
were  valiant  men  of  war,  and  the  eleven  tribes  had  three 
successive  days  of  obstinate  fighting  before  subduing  them. 
And  it  is  said  that,  as  a  result,  with  the  exception  of  about 
six  hundred  that  shut  themselves  up  in  a  cave,  the  Benjam- 
ites  were  all  put  to  the  sword,  and  the  tribe  was  very  nearly 
exterminated. 

Then  came  a  kind  of  popular  revulsion.  This  was  a  time 
of  strange  contrasts.  The  people,  aroused  to  fury  against 
Benjamin  by  a  sense  of  the  wrong  that  had  been  committed, 
had  emptied  their  cities  and  villages,  and  gone  up,  a  great 
multitude,  to  avenge  this  crime,  and  they  had  all  but  cut 
off  the  tribe,  having  slain  all  the  women,  all  the  children, 
and  all  the  men  except  about  six  hundred.  Then  they 
withdrew,  and  went  back  to  the  ark  and  the  tabernacle, 
and  were  seized  with  a  feeling  of  horror  at  the  thought, 
"A  tribe  is  blotted  out  in  Israel  !  "     That  seemed  to  touch 


398  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

the  very  pride  of  the  nation,  that  but  eleven  tribes  remained. 
Six  hundred  men  only  lived  of  the  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  the  inhabitants  of  Benjamin  ;  and  there  could 
be  no  households  among  them,  for  the  people  of  Israel  had 
sworn  by  a  solemn  oath  unto  the  Lord  that  they  would  not 
allow  one  of  their  daughters  to  marry  into  that  tribe.  So 
there  was  mourning,  and  they  said,  "  They  have  no  wdves, 
and  although  these  six  hundred  remain  there  will  be  no 
posterity,  and  the  tribe  will  be  extinct." 

But  they  fell  upon  a  device  which  was  peculiar  to  that 
age.  They  called  for  the  record,  and  made  an  examination 
to  see  if  all  the  people  had  come  up  upon  the  summons, 
and  they  found  that  none  from  Jabesh-gilead  had  come  to 
the  fight  ;  and  therefore  they  walked  over  to  Jabesh-gilead, 
and  killed  all  the  men  and  all  the  married  women,  and 
spared  the  young  women,  of  whom  there  were  four  hun- 
dred, and  called  peaceably  upon  the  six  hundred  children  of 
Benjamin  to  come  out  from  their  hiding  places,  and  all  but 
two  hundred  of  them  had  wives  provided  for  them  through 
this  courting  by  the  sword.  Tw^o  hundred  more  w^ere 
needed  :  but  the  Israelites  had  vowed  that  they  would  not 
allow^  any  of  their  children  to  be  married  into  that  tribe  ; 
and  so  they  whispered  to  the  Benjamites  who  had  no  wives 
that  at  Shiloh  there  were  certain  religious  festivals  and 
dances  going  on,  and  that  if  the}^  would  rush  in  and  catch 
and  run  off  with  two  hundred  more  virgins  the  parents 
should  be  argued  with  and  placated,  so  that  no  harm  should 
come  of  it.  Thus,  having  taken  four  hundred  maidens  by 
the  sword,  and  having  stolen  two  hundred  more,  the  Israel- 
ites fitted  out  the  six  hundred  Benjamites  with  wives,  and 
preserved  the  integrity  of  that  tribe. 

That  is  the  second  history.  What  a  time  !  What  a  state 
of  society  !  And  these  were  "  the  people  of  God."  They 
w^ere  a  people  that  arrogated  to  themselves  superiority. 
They  were  the  people  that  had  for  hundreds  and  hundreds 
of  years  borne  testimony  that  they  were  the  peculiar  people 
of  God.  And  yet,  in  no  age,  and  by  no  nation,  were  there 
ever  performed  more  barbarous  deeds  than  during  three  or 


JEPIITHAH.  399 

four  hundred  years  were  performed  in  the  history  of  this 
people. 

Now,  if  we  beUeve  that  God  develops  mankind  by  his 
divine  providence,  according  to  a  method  of  evolution 
under  natural  law,  we  can  bridge  over  this  terrible  gulf  ; 
but  if  we  suppose  that  all  this  time  these  people  were 
under  the  special  guardianship  and  immediate  direction  of 
God,  what  are  you  going  to  do  with  these  four  hundred 
hideous  years  of  darkness  ?  And  those  parallel  four  hun- 
dred dreadful  years  in  Egypt — what  are  you  going  to  do 
with  them  ?  Along  the  line  of  the  thought  that  there  is  a 
providence  which  works  through  natural  law  among  the 
nations  by  a  process  of  the  unfolding  of  germinant  moral 
sense,  and  tends  toward  civilization,  morality,  and  spiritu- 
ality, I  can  get  relief  ;  but  along  the  other  line  I  can  get 
none. 

In  following  these  episodes,  I  have  not  always  taken 
them  in  the  order  of  their  occurrence  in  the  record,  but 
rather  have  grouped  them  according  to  the  chief  elements 
they  manifest.  Our  readings  to-night  have  shown  the 
power  *of  superstition  on  rude  natures  and  the  readiness 
with  which  men  find  religious  sanction  for  the  devices  and 
desires  of  their  own  hearts.  The  third  of  the  three  stories 
mentioned  this  evening  as  concluding  our  study  of  the 
time  of  the  Judges  is  that  of  Samson,  which  we  will  con- 
sider next  Sunday  evening. 


XXII. 

SAMSON. 


To-night,  we  deal  with  the  last  history  that  we  shall  con- 
sider in  the  book  of  Judges — the  history  of  Samson. 

I  cannot  afford  to  follow  the  example  of  spiritualizers 
who  think  it  necessary  or  profitable  to  dress  out  the  char- 
acters of  antiquity  with  all  the  qualities  which  it  would  be 
possible  for  them  to  have  if  they  lived  in  our  time.  It  is 
true  that  now  and  then  every  age  produces  singular  indi- 
viduals that  are  well  balanced,  eminent  in  moral  directions, 
intellectual  and  esthetic  ;  but  they  are  rare.  For  the  most 
part,  men  who,  having  lived  in  the  early  ages,  are  reputed 
to  have  been  great  moral  men,  were  rude  and  deficient  .to 
a  degree  that  oftentimes  would  have  made  them  not  fcimply 
culpable  but  criminal  if  they  had  lived  in  our  age.  Yet,  in 
their  own  age,  either  they  were  so  useful  in  certain  lines, 
or  else  they  had  singular  qualities  which  were  so  eminent, 
that  they  are  put  in  the  calendar,  I  will  not  say  of  the 
saints,  but  of  the  heroes.  Thus  you  will  find  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  Hebrews  —  a  picture  gallery  of  history  —  the 
names  of  Jephthah,  of  Samson,  and  of  the  harlot  Rahab,  as 
belonging  to  the  list  of  persons  eminent  in  the  Israelitish 
history,  who  through "  faith  in  the  invisible  God  of  the 
Jews  wrought  wonders  in  times  of  personal  and  national 
tribulation. 

Of  the  harlot  Rahab  we  know  nothing,  except  her  kind- 
ness to  the  spies  because  from  the  history  of  the  Hebrews 
she  believed  in  their  God,  and  helped  them.  Certainly 
her  general  character  would  not  entitle  her  to  have  a  name 
among   the  saints.     Jephthah,  a  Bedouin  Arab,  was  a  free- 


Sunday  evening,  April  27,  1879.     Lesson  :  Psa.  cxxxv. 


SAMSON. 


401 


booter,  acting  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  the  strongest  ; 
but  in  one  pre-eminent  period  of  his  life,  inspired  with 
patriotic  valor  in  the  name  of  his  national  God,  he  did 
great  good  to  his  people,  rescuing  them  and  then  ruling 
them  during  the  space  of  six  years.  Samson  possessed 
traits  which  made  him  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  time  in 
which  he  lived,  and  he  w^as  most  useful  to  his  own  people  \ 
but  he  was  no  more  a  saint  than  Hercules  was,  or  Goliath  ; 
and  I  cannot  afford  to  invest  him  with  a  spiritual  halo. 
In  other  words,  I  cannot  consistently  invest  him  with  qual- 
ities that  are  utterly  at  variance  with  those  that  belonged 
to  his  nature. 

There  is  much  exaggeration  in  the  usual  treatment  of  all 
these  characters,  and  even  of  so  great  a  man  of  God  as  the 
prophet  Samuel.  It  is  amusing  to  read  the  pious  things 
that  are  written  of  him.  It  is  almost  as  good  as  a  play.  It 
is  absolutely  grotesque.  It  is  absurd  in  the  highest  degree, 
to  one  who  has  a  sense  of  humor. 

I  cannot  deal  so  with  Bible  characters.  I  cannot  under- 
take to  make  you  believe  that  because  a  man  figures  in 
Old  Testament  history  he  w^as  better  than  he  would  be  if 
measured  by  canons  of  miorality  such  as  have  been  dis- 
closed in  this  later  time.  We  must  judge  greenness  by 
ripeness  ;  and  it  is  the  ethical  clarity  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment by  which  we  must  judge  the  sordid  nature  of  men 
even  in  the  very  twilight  dawn  of  human  life.  To  be  sure, 
we  do  not  blame  men  for  living  low  in  those  early  ages  as 
we  should  blame  them  if  they  vvere  living  thus  now  ;  but 
in  describing  them  as  heroes,  and  still  more  in  speaking  of 
them  as  prophets,  we  must  measure  their  deficiencies  by 
the  ethics  of  the  New  Testament,  and  not  attempt  to  spirit- 
ualize and  slur  over  their  faults,  and  undertake  to  show 
that  when  they  did  things  criminal  it  was  because  God 
told  them  to.  It  will  not  answer  to  argue  that  it  was  right 
for  this  and  that  man  in  antiquity  to  steal,  or  murder,  or 
commit  acts  of  cruelty,  because  God  commanded  them  to 
do  these   things.     An  influence   that  makes  a  man   brutal 

may  be  inspiration,  but  it  is  not  inspiration  from  above. 
26 


402  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

Now,  while  I  delineate  some  of  the  peculiarities  of  the 
character  of  Samson  you  must  bear  with  me  if  I  analyze  it, 
and  give  the  facts  as  they  are,  and  not  as  our  Sunday- 
school  classes  have  often  been  taught  to  think  them  to  be. 

There  is  a  charming  chapter,  if  you  will  make  suitable 
allowance  for  the  imperfections  of  the  age  to  which  it 
refers,  the  thirteenth  of  Judges,  that  opens  with  a  simple 
history  of  the  parents  of  Samson— Manoah  and  his  wife. 
She  had  no  name.  In  that  age  a  woman  had  none  of  any 
consequence.  Women  may  have  had  names,  but  it  was 
generally  unnecessary  to  record  them.  Therefore,  "  a  cer- 
tain woman  "  is  often  spoken  of.  As  nowadays,  in  the 
theory  of  the  law,  a  woman  lapses  and  merges  into  her 
husband,  and  is  known  only  as  included  in  her  husband, 
so  in  antiquity  woman  had  little  or  no  identity  of  her  own. 
Manoah  and  his  wife,  therefore,  figured  together  with  one 
name  between  them. 

It  seems  that  this  woman  had  a  vision  of  angels,  and  it 
was  repeated  in  dreams,  concerning  the  birth  of  a  child, 
which  in  those  days,  as  in  all  times,  was  thought  to  be  a 
blessing  from  the  hand  of  God.  The  promise  of  children 
is  divine,  and  to  every  noble  nature  the  thought  of  bring- 
ing a  child  into  life  should  be  like  a  visit  and  vision  of 
angels  from  God's  very  throne.  It  is  the  dearest,  the 
divinest,  the  deepest,  and  the  purest  experience  of  human 

life. 

The  ministration  of  angels  was  not,  however,  in  this  case, 
so  much  to  declare  the  coming  birth  as  to  declare  that  the 
child  -was  to  be  a  hero,  and  that  it  must  be  brought  up 
with  that  thought  in  view.  But  is  not  every  child  a  subject 
of  angelic  visitation  ?  Every  mother's  babe  is  perhaps 
capable  of  becoming  a  hero  ;  yet  it  is  not  every  mother 
that  brings  her  child  up  as  if  he  were  so. 

So  the  father  and  mother  were  commanded  to  rear  their 
child  as  a  Nazarite,  a  word  implying  the  primitive  or  un- 
developed form  of  monk.  It  comes  nearer  to  the  monastic 
institution  than  anything  else  recorded  in  the  Bible,  of  the 
history  of  this  early  period.     It  is  true  that   monasticism, 


SAJ/SOjV.  403 

for  the  most  part,  gave  men  a  local  habitation,  a  seclusion 
from  the  family  estate,  not  only,  but  from  the  civil  occu- 
pations of  life,  shutting  them  up  in  a  home  provided  ex- 
pressly for  them  ;  but  among  the  Hebrews,  a  Nazarite, 
although  he  separated  himself  from  people  in  some  respects, 
still  commingled  with  them  in  other  respects,  and  lived 
the  ordinary  life.  As  in  the  case  of  Samuel,  Samson  was 
brought  up  to  separate  himself  from  people  by  his  habits 
of  life.  He  was  forbidden  to  taste  the  fruit  of  the  vine. 
He  was  to  be  a  teetotaler  ;  and  he  grew  up  to  great  strength 
without  a  knowledge  of  stimulants  as  they  were  known  in 
his  nation  and  age. 

More  than  that,  he  made  himself  peculiar  by  refusing  to 
cut  his  hair.  Undoubtedly  he  was  a  man  of  large  stature, 
brawny,  gigantic  of  bone  and  muscle,  and  with  locks 
allowed  to  grow  in  full.  The  animal  in  him  was  mighty. 
His  hair  was  unshorn  and  untrimmed.  He  was,  however, 
in  disposition  not  an  ascetic  ;  he  was  a  jovial  man.  This 
was  never  with  the  hilarity  of  intoxicating  drink  ;  his 
joviality  was  the  natural  outflow  of  his  own  nature. 

He  is,  indeed,  almost  the  only  man  of  the  Old  Testament 
the  keynote  of  whose  life  seems  to  have  been  sportiveness 
or  mirthfulness.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  nearly  every 
one  of  the  delineations  of  Samson's  character  carries  with 
it  an  element  of  almost  irresistible  jollity  or  humor.  Al- 
though his  various  transactions  were  very  rude  and  harsh, 
I  think  it  w41I  be  found  when  we  come  to  examine  him 
from  the  standpoint  of  his  own  thought,  that  he  had  in 
him  a  kind  of  mirthful  craft  and  cunning,  and  that  he  saw 
the  great  fun  of  things  as  well  as  the  element  of  success 
that  was  in  them. 

Chapter  thirteen  closes  with  these  words  : — 

"And  the  woman  bare  a  son,  and  called  his  name  Samson  :  and  the  child 
grew,  and  Jehovah  blessed  him.  And  the  spirit  of  Jehovah  began  to  move 
him  at  times  in  the  camp  of  Dan  between  Zorah  and  Eshtaol." 

Here,  probably,  is  the  history  of  twenty-five  years  com- 
pressed into  two  short  verses.  What  are  we  to  understand 
by  these  words  ?     Looking  at  such  a  statement  as  this  in 


404  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

the  light  of  the  facts  of  human  life,  of  observation  and 
experience,  what  may  we  conclude  was  the  temperament 
he  possessed  ? 

There  is  a  line  that  may  be  said  to  divide  the  whole 
human  family  of  every  nation.  The  few  are  above  that 
line,  and  the  vast  multitude  are  below  it.  It  is  the  line  of 
power,  inspiration,  and  exaltation.  There  is  in  the  human 
constitution  a  capacity  of  sudden,  powerful,  concentrated 
thought  or  feeling.  It  may  take  on  any  one  of  several 
forms.  A  great  many  men  are  kindled  slowly  as  green 
wood  is.  Other  men  are  kindled  fast,  as  dry  wood  is. 
Some,  however,  are  capable  of  going  off  like  gunpowder, 
suddenly,  with  intensity,  at  a  word  or  at  a  thought,  unbe- 
known to  themselves  and  apparently  uninvoked  ;  there  is 
that  which  pours  the  whole  tide  of  their  being  out  in  one 
flame.  This  is  the  power  of  being  w^hat  men  call  "  inspired." 
The  ancients  considered  it  an  act  by  which  a  god  entered 
into  a  man  and  took  possession  of  him,  inspiring  or  breath- 
ing his  own  spirit  into  him.  The  best  reason  they  could 
give  for  this  sudden  exaltation  in  a  man  w^as  that  he  had  a 
god  in  him  that  lifted  him  and  carried  him  upward.  He 
was  godlike,  according  to  their  conception,  so  different  was 
he  from  common  men. 

This  condition  depends  upon  the  structure  of  the  mind. 
It  requires  that  a  man  should  have  a  certain  quality — fine- 
ness or  susceptibility  of  nerve.  More  than  that,  it  is  not 
an  effect  without  a  cause  ;  it  is  the  result  of  a  given  com- 
bination of  forces.  And  among  these  is  the  physical  instru- 
mentality of  a  sudden  influx  of  blood  upon  the  brain.  But 
the  current  that  comes  to  the  brain  should  be  stimulating. 
That  is,  the  blood  should  be  rich  and  full  of  power.  And, 
moreover,  the  veins  and  arteries  of  the  brain  must  act  so 
that  it  can  not  only  receive  a  sudden  influx  of  power  for 
instantaneous  use,  but  can  relieve  itself  with  great  freedom, 
or  else  there  is  danger  of  congestion  and  stupidity,  caused 
by  the  thro.wing  into  it  the  whole  force  of  circulation.  The 
brain  should  be  able  to  free  itself  easily,  and  with  spon- 
taneity, by  a  ready  utilization  —  physical    or    mental    or 


SAJ/SOX 


40 1 


both — of  any  such  excess  of  power  that  may  be  thrown 
upon  it  by  the  whole  force  that  inheres  in  the  man,  whether 
that  be  greater  or  less. 

Now,  this  susceptibility  to  inspiration  is  a  matter  of  en- 
dowment at  birth.  No  man  by  thinking  can  add  one 
cubit  to  his  stature  ;  and  no  man  by  thinking  can  change 
his  brain  so  that  its  structure  shall  not  be  what  it  was  ;  nor 
can  he  change  the  construction  of  his  organized  body. 

The  old  Roman  writers  used  to  say  that  a  poet  was 
born^  not  made.  Education  may  enable  a  man  to  make 
rhymes,  but  not  to  write  poetry.  And  thus,  men  that  are 
capable  of  being  inspired  are  so  by  nature.  It  is  said  of 
Jeremiah  that  he  was  called  to  be  a  prophet  from  his 
mother's  womb.  We  should  say  in  modern  phrase  that  he 
had  original  adaptations  to  the  prophetic  function.  And 
where  a  man  has  that  inspirational  force,  that  automatic 
action  of  mind,  that  sudden  rushing  energy  which  clothes 
him  as  in  an  instant  with  unusual  power,  it  is  born  in  him. 
It  is  never  educated  into  a  man.  One  having  the  elements 
of  it  may  by  education  develop  it,  and  make  it  more  usable, 
or  regulate  it  ;  but  the  fundamental  conditions  of  it  belong 
to  the  man's  constitution. 

This  quality  was  not  confined  to  the  holy  men  of  old,  as 
they  are  called.  In  the  time  of  the  Israelites  it  broke  out 
in  every  nation.  Men  that  had  this  inspirational  power 
were  supposed  to  be  channels  through  which  the  gods 
communicated.  They  were  the  men  that  governed  the 
oracles.  They  were  the  Oriental  leaders.  If  a  man  came 
into  such  a  condition  that  he  showed  intense  excitement  he 
was  thought  to  be  possessed  of  a  god.  In  some  nations, 
even  such  persons  as  lunatics  were  considered  sacred,  and 
to  harm  them  in  any  wise  w^as  like  striking  a  god. 

Where  this  sensibility  of  the  whole  cerebral  system 
acted  upon  the  physical  frame,  it  made  a  man  a  warrior — 
not  a  warrior  in  the  modern  sense  of  being  able  to  lay  out 
and  conduct  large  campaigns,  but  a  warrior  in  battle, 
where  inspiration  enables  one  man  to  fire  a  thousand  by 
his  heroism,  and  lead  them  into  the  field  as  the  lightning 


4o6  BIBLE  srCDIES. 

comes  when  once  the  cloud  gives  it  out.  Where  it  acted 
in  the  direction  of  the  intellectual,  it  made  men's  reason 
powerful  mainly  in  persuasion  or  demonstration.  Where 
it  acted  in  the  direction  of  the  imagination,  it  made  them 
poets  and  orators.  Where  it  acted  with  the  moral  senti- 
ments as  well  as  with  the  imagination,  it  made  them 
prophets  and  preachers. 

In  Samson  it  Avas  the  lowest  form.  He  was  not  a 
prophet,  nor  a  preacher,  nor  a  poet,  nor  a  thinker.  You 
might  pluck  his  life  bare  from  end  to  end  and  you  could 
not  find  in  it  anything  worth  remembering  of  thought  or 
feeling.  He  was  utterly  devoid  of  the  higher  forms  of 
mental  productiveness.  And  yet,  Samson  was  a  great  man 
in  his  way.  He  was  a  genius  of  muscle.  More  than  that, 
he  was  a  genius  of  patriotism.  There  are  four  gradations 
in  this  direction.  The  first  stage  is  where  a  man  naturally 
loves  him.self  ;  that  is  savagism.  The  second  stage  is  where 
a  man  loves  his  tribe  ;  tribal  love  is  much  higher  than 
self-love.  In  the  exercise  of  that  love  he  begins  to  develop 
the  generous  sentiments  of  self-sacrifice.  But  a  man  is  low 
down  that  has  no  enthusiasm  except  for  himself  and  for 
his  own  tribe  or  family.  The  third  stage  is  that  of  patriot- 
ism, where  a  man  loves  his  nation  ;  and  that  is  a  very 
great  advance  over  the  first  and  second  stages,  and  carries 
with  it  signal  benefits  which  they  do  not  yield.  But  there 
is  a  stage  which  is  higher  than  that,  and  which  implies 
such  a  development  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  elements 
in  a  man  that  he  comes  into  sympathy  with  the  declara- 
tion of"  our  Saviour  that  to  him  ''  the  field  is  the  world." 
This  is  the  ver}'  highest  point  of  development  that  is  possi- 
ble to  the  human  race. 

Samson  stood,  a  great  rude  man,  on  the  third  plane. 
He  loved  himself,  he  loved  his  own  household  and  friends, 
evidently,  and  he  was  so  much  a  loving  man  that  he  loved 
his  own  people  ;  but  he  did  not  love  mankind. 

As  this  man  is  described  he  is  an  instance  of  the  great 
distinction  which  exists  between  Eastern  and  Western 
manners,  and  between  the  conceptions  of  the  religious  life 


saj/soa:  407 

as  they  exist  in  the  East  and  in  the  West.  He  was  a  Jewish 
chief  nearly  resembling  the  founder  of  a  monastic  order. 
The  founder  of  a  monastic  institution  in  medieval  or  mod- 
ern times  would  be  usually  a  man  that  denied  himself  of 
pleasure — who  lived  an  ascetic  life — utterly  devoid  of  the 
ordinary  passions  and  ambitions  of  men.  Samson,  who 
was  an  eminent  example  of  the  monastic  order  in  antiq- 
uity, was  very  social,  very  genial,  and  very  frolicsome,  and 
anything  but  a  model  of  propriety. 

The  first  scene  we  have  in  which  he  figures  is  that  of  his 
courtship.  You  may  wonder  why  this  should  be  inserted 
in  the  Bible,  when  there  were  so  many  other  things  which 
men  were  dying  for  the  lack  of,  that  were  left  out  ;  but  so 
it  is.  Although  it  may  be  a  stumbling-block  in  certain 
points  of  view,  in  other  points  of  view  it  is  of  profound 
interest,  as  presenting  a  history  of  the  manners  of  the 
times  in  which  Samson  lived. 

"And  Samson  went  down  to  Timnath,  and  saw  a  woman  in  Timnath  of 
the  daughters  of  the  Philistines.  And  he  came  up,  and  told  his  father  and 
his  mother,  and  said,  I  have  seen  a  woman  in  Timnath  of  the  daughters  of 
the  Philistines  :  now  therefore  get  her  for  me  to  wife." 

In  those  days  and  lands,  you  know,  wives  were  bought 
and  sold  like  cattle.  They  are  still,  only  it  is  done  in  a 
far  more  gracious  manner  than  it  used  to  be.  The  interior 
of  the  transaction  is  yet  to  a  very  great  extent  a  mere 
matter  of  barter,  but  in  the  time  of  Samson  it  was  exterior 
and  obvious.  Then,  the  father  owned  his  children.  Their 
life  was  in  his  hands.  Their  property  was  his,  not  alone  in 
Israel  but  even  so  late  as  in  Rome. 

In  this  case  Samson  asks  his  father  and  mother  to  go 
and  buy  this  girl  for  him.  He  liked  her  ;  but  they  didn't, 
— as  is  very  often  the  fact. 

''  Then  his  father  and  his  mother  said  unto  him,  Is  there  never  a  woman 
among  the  daughters  of  thy  brethren,  or  among  all  my  people,  that  thou 
goest  to  take  a  wife  of  the  uncircumcised  Philistines  ? " 

They  were  right,  as  the  sequel  pi-oved.  To  be  sure,  in 
the  enthusiasm  of  young  love,  in  the  inexperienced  glow  of 
undisciplined  affections,  the   young  are  apt  to  despise  the 


4o8  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

counsel  of  father  and  mother,  and  to  follow  their  own 
inclinations  instead  of  considerations  of  fitness,  adaptation, 
and  propriety.  If  it  were  true  that  the  enthusiasm  of 
early  love  would  bake  bread,  and  make  clothes,  and  till 
fields,  and  build  houses,  and  promote  family  welfare  in  life, 
there  would  be  more  excuse  for  implicitly  obeying  its  dic- 
tates. But  it  is  not  true.  Still,  I  would  not  underrate  it. 
I  pity  a  man  that  never  has  had  it.  It  may  not  be  his 
fault.  It  is  not  the  fault  of  a  stick  of  wood  that  it  cannot 
play  a  tune — but  its  misfortune.  I  cannot  conceive  that 
man  to  have  the  highest  manhood  who  does  not  know 
how  to  be  crazy,  on  proper  occasions,  with  an  enthusiasm 
w^hich  lifts  him  above  calculation,  above  sordid  motives. 
There  is  an  inspiration  of  the  inner,  better,  higher  life 
under  which  such  a  thing  is  perfectly  safe  ;  but  in  this 
lower  life,  environed  with  matter  and  material  conditions, 
while  there  ought,  surely,  not  to  be  less  enthusiasm  and 
disinterested  love,  there  ought  somewhere  to  be  prudence. 
Generally  speaking,  the  right  place  for  the  prudence  is  in 
father  and  mother  ;  and  young  people  would  do  well  to 
take  heed  to  their  counsels,  as  Samson  did  not.  He  got 
his  pay  for  disregarding  their  advice,  as  we  shall  see. 

"  His  father  and  his  mother  knew  not  that  it  was  of  Jehovah,  that  he 
sought  an  occasion  against  the  Philistines  :  for  at  that  time  the  Philistines 
had  dominion  over  Israel.  Then  went  Samson  down,  and  his  father  and 
his  mother,  to  Timnath,  and  came  to  the  vineyards  of  Timnath." 

They  did  not  travel  together  ;  for  the  scene  with  the 
lion  took  place  when  he  was  alone. 

"And,  behold,  a  young  lion  roared  against  him.  And  the  spirit  of 
Jehovah  came  mightily  upon  him,  and  he  rent  him  as  he  would  have  rent 
a  kid,  and  he  had  nothing  in  his  hand  :  but  he  told  not  his  father  or  his 
mother  what  he  had  done." 

Samson  evidently  was  no  boaster.  It  has  seemed  strange 
to  you  and  to  me  that  a  man  should  attack  a  lion  and  kill 
him  witli  nothing  in  his  hand  ;  but  that  is  owing  to  the  dif- 
ference between  you  and  me  and  Samson.  If  you  suppose 
that  which  is  recorded  of  him  to  be  impossible,  you  are 
mistaken.     It  is  recorded  of  not  a  few,  and  is  not  confined 


SAA/SO.V.  409 

to  sacred  history.  It  will  bring  to  mind  the  reply  of  David 
when  he  offered  to  go  out  against  Goliath,  and  Saul  told 
him  he  was  a  stripling  too  young  to  undertake  so  formid- 
able a  task.     Said  he  : — 

"  Thy  servant  kept  his  father's  shcc]"),  and  there  came  a  lion,  and  a  bear, 
and  took  a  lamb  out  of  the  flock :  and  I  went  out  after  him,  and  smote  him, 
and  delivered  it  out  of  his  mouth:  and  when  he  arose  against  me,  I  caught 
him  by  his  beard,  and  smote  him,  and  slew  him.  Thy  servant  slew  both  the 
lion  and  the  bear." 

There  have  been  valiant  men  besides  Baron  Munchausen 
who  have  distinguished  themselves  by  seizing  wild  beasts 
by  the  tongue  or  jaw  and  rending  them  asunder  ;  and  if 
others  had  done  it  there  is  no  reason  why  we  should  not 
believe  that  Samson  did  it.  Great  things  had  been  proph- 
esied of  him  as  a  deliverer  of  his  people  ;  he  had  been 
trained  in  the  idea  ;  he  felt  his  own  strength  ;  he  believed 
in  it  as  the  gift  of  God, — and  the  inspiration  that  seized 
him  was  the  flaming  consciousness  of  victorious  power. 

"And  he  went  down,  and  talked  with  the  woman  ;  and  she  pleased  Sam- 
son well." 

This  seems  to  have  been  the  second  visit. 

"After  a  time  he  returned  to  take  her." 

There  is  no  further  account  given  of  the  parental  coun- 
sel ;  at  any  rate,  they  seem  to  have  acquiesced.  On  his 
way, — 

"  He  turned  aside  to  see  the  carcass  of  the  lion  [the  flesh  had  evidently 
decayed,  leaving  the  ribs  and  other  portions  of  the  frame  complete] ;  and, 
behold,  there  was  a  swarm  of  bees  and  honey  in  the  carcass  of  the  lion. 
And  he  took  thereof  in  his  hands,  and  went  on  eating,  and  came  to  his 
father  and  mother,  and  he  gave  them,  and  they  did  eat :  but  he  told  not 
them  that  he  had  taken  the  honey  out  of  the  carcass  of  the  lion. 

"And  his  father  went  down  unto  the  woman  :  and  Samson  made  there  a 
feast." 

It  was  his  wedding  feast.  And  now  his  sense  of  humor 
begins  to  appear. 

"  It  came  to  pass,  when  they  saw  him,  that  they  brought  thirty  compan- 
ions to  be  with  him.  And  Samson  said  unto  them  [the  Philistines],  I  will 
now  put  forth  a  riddle  unto  you." 

The  propounding  and  guessing  of  riddles  was  one  of  the 


410  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

common  occupations  of  Oriental  nations,  clear  down  to  the 
last  days  of  the  Israelites.  They  wei-e  not  exactly  conun- 
drums, but  questions  that  tested  the  ingenuity  ;  and  prob- 
ably it  was  as  good  as  many  of  the  occupations  that  are 
pursued  nowadays. 

**  If  ye  can  certainly  declare  it  me  within  the  seven  clays  of  the  feast,  and 
find  it  out,  then  I  will  give  you  thirty  sheets  and  thirty  change  of  garments  ; 
but  if  ye  cannot  declare  it  me,  then  shall  ye  give  me  thirty  sheets  and  thirty 
change  of  garments." 

That  is,  he  gave  a  riddle,  and  bet  thirty  sheets  and  thirty 
robes  that  they  could  not  guess  it,  and  they  bet  thirty 
sheets  and  thirty  robes  that  they  could.  It  was  gambling, 
though  it  is  described  in  decorous  language  ;  but  a  great 
deal  of  gambling  goes  on  under  pious  phrases. 

"And  they  said  unto  him.  Put  forth  thy  riddle,  that  we  may  hear  it.  And 
he  said  unto  them.  Out  of  the  eater  came  forth  meat,  and  out  of  the  strong 
came  forth  sweetness." 

I  confess  I  should  have  been  puzzled  if  that  riddle  had 
been  put  to  me.  I  could  not  for  the  life  of  me  have  told 
what  it  meant.  Apparently  it  might  have  related  to  any 
of  a  thousand  things  ;  but  it  was  all  the  better  for  that. 

"They  could  not  in  three  days  expound  the  riddle.  And  it  came  to  pass 
on  the  seventh  day,  that  they  said  unto  Samson's  wife,  Entice  thy  husband, 
that  he  may  declare  unto  us  the  riddle." 

She  was  evidently  a  weak  woman,  who  rather  meant  to 
do  right,  or  who  did  not  go  to  do  wrong  of  her  own  accord. 
At  any  rate,  this  betrayal  of  her  husband's  interests  would 
hardly, seem  to  have  been  a  proper  proceeding  at  so  early 
a  period  after  one's  wedding.  She  hesitated,  probably  ; 
and,  as  she  did  so,  they  added  : — 

"  Lest  we  burn  thee  and  thy  father's  house  with  fire  :  have  ye  called  us 
to  take  that  we  have  ?     Is  it  not  so  ?  " 

They  wanted  her  to  get  Samson  to  tell  her,  and  they 
wanted  her  then  to  tell  them  ;  and,  when  she  hesitated,  they 
charged  her  with  having  invited  them  to  this  feast  for  the 
purpose  of  robbing  them,  and  threatened  to  take  revenge  by 
destroying  her  and  her  father's  house  if  she  did  not  com- 


SAA/SOM  411 

ply  with  their  request.     She  addressed  to  her  husband  the 
universal  argument  : — 

"  Samson's  wife  wept  before  him,  and  said  :  " — 

What  did  she  say  ?  O,  nothing  new.  There  is  nothing- 
new  under  the  sun.  You  will  find  that  four  thousand 
years  ago  human  nature  ran  in  the  same  channels  that  it 
does  now.  We  are  all  going  over  and  over  again  the  old 
things. 

"  Samson's  wife  wept  before  him,  and  said,  Thou  dost  but  hate  me,  and 
lovest  me  not :  thou  hast  put  forth  a  riddle  unto  the  children  of  my  people, 
and  hast  not  told  it  me.  And  he  said  unto  her,  Behold,  I  have  not  told  it 
my  father  nor  my  mother,  and  shall  I  tell  it  thee  ?  And  she  wept  before 
him  the  seven  days,  while  their  feast  lasted." 

A  very  pleasant  wedding  festival  they  must  have  had  ; 
but  continual  dropping  will  wear  away  a  stone. 

"And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  seventh  day,  that  he  told  her,  because  she 
lay  sore  upon  him." 

A  woman  is  just  as  weak  as  a  child  ;  a  man  could  take 
her  with  two  fingers  and  put  her  out  of  the  door  ;  and  yet 
in  a  week  a  woman  can  weary  a  man  into  almost  anything. 

"And  she  told  the  riddle  to  the  children  of  her  people.  And  the  men  of 
the  city  said  unto  him  on  the  seventh  day  before  the  sun  went  down.  What 
is  sweeter  than  honey .''  and  what  is  stronger  than  a  lion  ? 

"And  he  said  unto  them.  If  ye  had  not  ploughed  with  my  heifer,  ye  had 
not  found  out  my  riddle." 

Now,  there  was  business  ! 

"And  the  spirit  of  Jehovah  came  upon  him  [that  is,  in  his  indignation, 
tremendous  power  and  courage  rose  up  in  him],  and  he  went  down  to 
Ashkelon,  and  slew  thirty  men  of  them,  and  took  their  spoil,  and  gave 
change  of  garments  unto  them  which  expoAm:led  the  riddle." 

They  won  the  bet,  and  they  got  the  clothes  ;  but  who 
lost  them  ?  It  was  a  very  easy  way  of  paying  one's  gam- 
bling debt. 

"And  his  anger  was  kindled  [That  did  not  slake  it.  His  indignation  was 
like  the  sea,  whose  waves,  even  after  the  wind  goes  down,  roll  sometimes 
for  days],  and  he  went  up  to  his  father's  house." 

He  abandoned  the  wife  for  the  time  being.  He  could 
not  stand  living  with  her  ;  and,  as  it  will  appear,  he  could 


412  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

not  Stand  living  without  her.     Such  is  the  history  of  thou- 
sands of  men. 

"  But  Samson's  wife  was  given  to  his  companion,  whom  he  had  used  as 
his  friend." 

That  was  one  of  the  band  of  thirty  that  had  been  invited 
to  the  house.  Evidently  Samson  was  partial  to  him,  and 
he  probably  took  Samson's  place.  There  were  no  divorce 
proceedings  ;  and  it  did  not  take  long  for  the  father  who 
had  given  the  damsel  to  one  man,  to  give  her,  after  he  had 
gone  off,  to  another.  There  was  no  law  and  no  moral  sen- 
timent to  prevent  this. 

"  But  it  came  to  pass  within  a  while  after  [you  see  how  definite  the  state- 
ment is  as  to  time],  in  the  time  of  wheat  harvest,  that  Samson  visited  his 
wife  with  a  kid  ;  and  he  said,  I  will  go  in  to  my  wife  into  the  chamber. 
But  her  father  would  not  suffer  him  to  go  in.  And  her  father  said,  I  verily 
thought  that  thou  hadst  utterly  hated  her ;  therefore  I  gave  her  to  thy  com- 
panion :  is  not  her  younger  sister  fairer  than  she  }  Take  her,  I  pray  thee, 
instead  of  her." 

When  a  man's  heart  is  fixed  upon  a  certain  woman,  she 
and  she  only  will  satisfy  him.  Others  may  be  fairer  and 
more  suitable,  but  after  all  the  secret  intoxication  is  upon 
him  and  he  will  accept  no  substitute. 

"And  Samson  said  concerning  them,  Now  shall  I  be  more  blameless  than 
the  Philistines,  though  I  do  them  a  displeasure*  And  Samson  went  and 
caught  three  hundred  foxes  [Here,  too,  there  is  the  utter  absence  of  any 
record  of  time.  There  is  no  telling  how  long  it  took  him  to  catch  them], 
and  took  firebrands,  and  turned  tail  to  tail,  and  put  a  firebrand  in  the  midst 
between  two  tails.  And  when  he  had  set  the  brands  on  fire,  he  let  them  go 
into  the  standing  corn  of  the  Philistines,  and  burnt  up  both  the  shocks,  and 
also  the  standing  corn,  with  the  vineyards  and  olives." 

This,  too,  has  been  a  stumbling-block  of  wonder  to  a 
great  many  people.  But,  in  the  first  place,  we  are  to 
remember  that  in  that  hilly  country  animals,  including 
foxes,  were  very  numerous,  that  oftentimes  they  were 
found  in  flocks,  and  that  they  might  have  been  gathered 
together  and  caught  by  driving  them  into  corrals  or  pre- 
pared places.     At  an)?-  rate  it  was  not  a  thing  so  impossible 


*"This  time  shall  I  be  quits  with  the  Philistines,  when  I  do  them  a  mis- 
chief."    Rrj.  Vers,  manrin. 


SAJ/SO.V.  413 

but  that  one  may  believe  it.  Then  as  to  tying  firebrands 
between  their  tails  after  they  were  caught,  that  was  not  so 
difficult  a  matter.  The  reason  why  Samson  tied  the  foxes 
together  as  he  did  was  that  if  they  had  been  allowed  to  go 
separately,  they  would  have  run  away  quickly  and  done 
little  damage,  but  that  being  tied  together  they  would 
attempt  to  run  in  different  directions,  and  would  be  delayed 
so  that  the  brands  would  have  time  to  catch  the  dry  straw, 
and  insure  the  destruction  of  the  whole  crop. 

Now  you  are  to  understand  that  this  took  place,  not 
over  a  great  extent  of  country,  but  only  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  thirty  Philistines  that  got  the  sheets  and  robes  ;  and 
if  it  still  taxes  your  credulity,  it  is  to  be  added  that  this  is 
not  a  novel  thing.  It  is  recorded  of  Hannibal,  you  will 
recollect,  that  under  certain  circumstances  he  tied  brands 
to  the  horns  of  two  thousand  oxen,  and  sent  them  out  for 
devastation.  The  Romans,  in  festivals,  were  accustomed 
to  tie  brands  to  foxes  and  set  them  loose,  as  a  kind  of  cere- 
mony. We  have  accounts  of  tying  brands  to  bullocks' 
tails,  and  watching  their  course  to  determine  whether  or 
not  the  gods  were  propitious.  When  you  come  to  look 
into  the  customs  which  were  prevalent  as  far  down  as  the 
time  when  Rome  was  in  her  glory,  the  strangeness  of  this 
event  to  your  mind  will  be  somewhat  alleviated. 

"  Then  the  Philistines  said,  Who  hath  done  this  ?  And  they  answered, 
Samson,  the  son-in-law  of  the  Timniie,  because  he  had  taken  his  wife,  and 
given  her  to  his  companion.  And  the  Philistines  came  up,  and  burnt  her 
and  her  father  with  fire." 

That  was  a  quick  remedy.  It  was  administered  not 
simply  in  a  spirit  of  wrath,  but  also  with  a  desire  to  leave 
nothing  to  tempt  Samson  into  that  neighborhood  there- 
after. 

"And  Samson  said  unto  them,  Though  ye  have  done  this,  yet  will  I  be 
avenged  of  you,  and  after  that  I  will  cease." 

In  other  words,  "  You  have  had  your  turn  ;  now  I  will 
have  mine  :  and  the  thing  shall  be  ended." 

"And  he  smote  them  hip  and  thigh  with  a  great  slaughter  :  and  he  went 
down  and  dwelt  in  the  top  of  the  rock  Etam." 


414  BIBLE  STL' DIES. 

What  unmannerly  times  !     What  a  strange  condition  of 

human  society  ! 

"  Then  the  Philistines  went  up,  and  pitched  in  Judah  [for  Israel  at  this 
time  was  under  the  dominion  of  the  Philistines],  and  spread  themselves  in 
Lehi.     And  the  men  of  Judah  said,  Why  are  ye  come  up  against  us  ? " 

This  evidently  was  a  neighborhood  matter.  It  was  not 
known  by  the  Israelites  at  large.  They  did  not  under- 
stand the  reason  of  the  invasion. 

"  They  answered,  To  bind.  Samson  are  we  come  up,  to  do  to  him  as  he 
hath  done  to  us, 

"  Then  three  thousand  men  of  Judah  went  to  the  top  of  the  rock  Etam, 
and  said  to  Samson,  Knowest  thou  not  that  the  Philistines  are  rulers  over 
us  ?  What  is  this  that  thou  hast  done  unto  us  ?  And  he  said  unto  them, 
As  they  did  unto  me,  so  have  I  done  unto  them.  And  they  said  unto  him, 
We  are  come  down  to  bind  thee,  that  we  may  deliver  thee  into  the  hand  of 
the  Philistines.  And  Samson  said  unto  them.  Swear  unto  me,  that  ye  will 
not  fall  upon  me  yourselves.  And  they  spake  unto  him,  saying.  No ;  but 
we  will  bind  thee  fast,  and  deliver  thee  into  their  hand  :  but  surely  we  will 
not  kill  thee.  And  they  bound  him  with  two  new  cords,  and  brought  him 
up  from  the  rock." 

I  can  imagine  this  great  rollicking  giant  of  a  Samson 
sitting  on  the  sides  of  the  hills  and  grimly  laughing  while 
the  foxes  tugged  at  each  other's  tails  with  firebrands  tied 
to  them  through  the  fields  ;  there  was  something  humor- 
ous in  it  to  every  man — except  the  one  who  owned  the 
fields  :  and  I  can  imagine  how,  when  the  three  thousand 
Israelites  came  and  told  him  that  they  had  come  to  bind 
him  and  deliver  him  to  his  enemies,  this  hirsute,  powerful 
man  inwardly  chuckled  and  put  his  hands  up,  and  allowed 
them  to  tie  him.  Doubtless  he  really  enjoyed  being  tied, 
knowing  very  well,  as  he  did,  what  was  in  him. 

"And  when  he  came  unto  Lehi,  the  Philistines  shouted  against  him  :  and 
the  spirit  of  Jehovah  came  mightily  upon  him,  and  the  cords  that  were  upon 
his  arms  became  as  flax  that  was  burnt  with  fire,  and  his  bands  loosed  from 
off  his  hands. 

"And  he  found  a  new  jawbone  of  an  ass,  and  put  forth  his  hand,  and  took 
it,  and  slew  a  thousand  men  therewith.  And  Samson  said,  With  the  jaw- 
bone of  an  ass,  heaps  upon  heaps,  with  the  jaw  of  an  ass  have  I  slain  a 
thousand  men." 

This,  too,  has  been  thought  to  be  very  wonderful  ;  and 
it  would  be,  for  you  or  me.     It  was  a  nciu  jawbone,  with 


SAJ/SO.V, 


413 


the  juices  of  life  not  dried  out  of  it  ;  and  you  will  remember 
that,  being  the  jawbone  of  an  ass,  it  was  very  tough,  and 
no  mean  weapon.  As  to  the  slaughter,  it  was  not  a  diffi- 
cult thing,  under  the  circumstances,  for  him  to  kill  so  many 
men.  He  ran  at  them  roaring  and  smiting  ;  and  they  were 
infected  with  panic,  while  he  was  actuated  by  enthusiastic 
courage.     I  quite  believe  the  account. 

Moreover,  it  was  not  the  most  active  jawbone  of  an  ass 
that  ever  was.  Others  have  been  as  fatal  in  different  ways 
and  in  different  scenes  ! 

"And  he  was  sore  athirst,  and  called  on  Jehovah,  and  said,  Thou  hast 
given  this  great  deliverance  into  the  hand  of  thy  servant :  and  now  shall  I 
die  for  thirst,  and  fall  into  the  hand  of  the  uncircumcised  ?  But  God  clave 
an  hollow  place  that  was  in  the  jaw,*  and  there  came  water  thereout ;  and 
when  he  had  drunk,  his  spirit  came  again,  and  he  revived  :  wherefore  he 
called  the  name  thereof  En-hakkore,  which  is  in  Lehi  unto  this  day. 

"And  he  judged  Israel  in  the  days  of  the  Philistines  twenty  years." 

Here  you  come  to  a  more  favorable  aspect.  Having  de- 
livered the  people,  the  sense  of  power  and  of  patriotism 
seems  to  have  given  him  the  best  use  of  his  judgment. 
They  made  their  champion  their  ruler,  and  he  judged  and 
protected  them  for  twenty  years.  His  was  a  good  nature. 
He  was  a  kindly  man.  He  was  not  a  man  of  moderate 
passions  ;  he  would  have  been  marked  in  our  day  as  a  man 
grossly  immoral  :  but  he  was  a  lover  of  his  kin  and  of  his 
country.  He  therefore  had  pre-eminent  qualities  for  ruling 
in  such  a  rude  time  as  that  in  which  he  lived. 

According  to  the  account  which  is  given  of  this  man  in 
later  life,  in  the  pursuit  of  illicit  pleasures  he  found  him- 
self entrapped  in  the  city  of  Gaza.  As  the  people  knew 
tliat  he  was  there,  they  closed  the  gates,  and  determined, 
with  the  light  of  the  morning,  to  secure  him.  "  But  he 
arose  at  midnight,"  it  is  recorded,  "and  took  the  doors  of 
the  gate  of  the  city,  and  the  two  posts,  and  went  away 
with  them,  bar  and  all,  and  put  them  upon  his  shoulders, 
and  carried  them  up  to  the  top  of  a  hill  that  is  before 
Hebron."     How  he  must  have  enjoyed  that — walking  off 


*"The  hollow  place  that  is  in  Lehi."     /!ev.  Vers,  margin. 


4i6  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

with  the  very  instruments  of  his  captivity  !  If  these  gates 
were  like  the  gates  of  some  fortified  cities  of  our  time,  they 
would  weigh  some  forty  thousand  or  fifty  thousand  pounds, 
and  the  tax  on  our  credulity  would  be  too  heavy  ;  but  when 
we  consider  how  the  gates  of  cities  or  camps  were  built 
at  that  time,  it  is  not  difficult  for  us  to  believe  this  story. 
The  gates  spoken  of  here  may  have  been  such  that  it  was 
quite  within  the  power  of  so  gigantic  a  man  as  Samson  to 
carry  them.  There  is  nothing  in  the  statement  that  need 
prevent  our  belief  of  it. 

The  next  record  of  this  man  is  not  a  very  reputable  one. 

"And  it  came  to  pass  aftenvards,  that  he  loved  a  woman  in  the  valley  of 
Sorek,  whose  name  was  Delilah." 

Then  comes  the  history  of  her  enticinghim.  It  is  intensely 
natural,  it  is  intensely  human,  and  it  is  intensely  miserable. 
He  was  now  a  public  man,  a  magistrate,  and  he  knew 
better.  She,  at  the  instigation  of  her  people,  the  Philis- 
tines, persuaded  him  to  declare  wherein  his  strength  lay. 
There  are  very  few  dramas  written  that,  with  so  few  simple 
touches,  give  so  much  interior  history  of  the  wiles  of  a 
cozening  woman  as  does  this  of  Delilah  persuading  Sam- 
son ;  of  his  making  believe  this,  that,  and  the  other  thing  ; 
and  of  his  finally,  when  wearied  out  by  her  importunities, 
telling  her  his  secret.  It  is  familiar.  I  need  not  detail  all 
the  ways  in  which  he  fooled  her  and  her  friends,  nor  the 
final  way  in  which  she  induced  him  to  fool  himself. 

"  He  told  her  all  his  heart,  and  said  unto  her,  There  hath  not  come  a 
razor  upon  mine  head ;  for  I  have  been  a  Nazarite  unto  God  from  my 
mother's  womb:  if  I  be  shaven,  then  my  strength  will  go  from  me,  and  I 
shall  become  weak,  and  be  like  any  other  man. 

"And  when  Delilah  saw  that  he  had  told  her  all  his  heart,  she  sent  and 
called  for  the  lords  of  the  Philistines,  saying,  Come  up  this  once  [She 
had  called  them  twice  before,  but  only  to  be  laughed  at  by  the  jolly  giant], 
for  he  hath  shewed  me  all  his  heart.  Then  the  lords  of  the  Philistines  came 
up  unto  her,  and  brought  money  in  their  hand." 

Beautiful,  cruel,  worthless  ;  rottener  than  the  rot  under 
the  feet  of  the  man  that  treads  upon  the  fallen  fruit  of  the 
orchard  !     Pretending  to  love  him,  giving  herself  to  him 


SAJ/SO.V.  417 

in  sacrilege  of  love,  betraying  him  that  really  loved  her, 
— and  for  money  ! 

"And  she  made  him  sleep  upon  her  knees  ;  and  she  called  for  a  man,  and 
she  caused  him  to  shave  off  the  seven  locks  of  his  head ;  and  she  began  to 
afflict  him,  and  his  strength  went  from  him.  And  she  said,  The  Philistines 
be  upon  thee,  Samson.  And  he  awoke  out  of  his  sleep,  and  said,  I  will  go 
out  as  at  other  times  before,  and  shake  myself.  And  he  wist  not  that 
Jehovah  was  departed  from  him. 

"But  the  Philistines  took  him,  and  put  out  his  eyes,  and  brought  him 
down  to  Gaza,  and  bound  him  with  fetters  of  brass ;  and  he  did  grind  in  the 
prison  house." 

Grinding  was  the  most  menial  of  offices  in  that  land  at 
that  time  ;  and  this  bereft,  forlorn,  coarse-grained  man  was 
reduced  to  the  pitiful  plight  of  public  servitude  of  the  most 
degrading  character. 

The  account  goes  on  to  say  that  little  by  little  Samson's 
hair  grew  again,  and  that  with  it  came  back  his  strength, 
his  courage,  his  confidence,  and  his  aptitude.  Whether  or 
not  the  long  hair  was  the  real  secret  of  his  enormous 
strength,  it  is  clear  that  his  belief  in  it  was  an  essential 
element  of  his  courage.  And  now  he  began  to  regain  con- 
fidence. While  yet  in  prison,  he  was  brought  out  upon  a 
great  occasion  to  make  sport  for  the  Philistines, — probably 
in  feats  of  strength.  And  he  asked  the  lad  who  led  him 
out  to  let  him  feel  the  columns  which  mainly  supported 
the  circular  roof  of  the  building  in  which  the  assembly  was 
gathered,  that  he  might  rest,  after  his  labors.  When  this 
request  was  granted,  he  uttered  a  cry  to  God,  and  then, 
exerting  his  immense  strength,  taking  hold  of  the  columns 
with  his  two  hands,  he  bowed  himself  forward  and  wrenched 
the  columns  from  their  positions  ;  and  the  roof,  crowded 
with  people,  came  down  with  a  crash  into  the  space  below, 
and  hundreds  upon  hundreds  were  destroyed,  as  well  as 
Samson  himself.  He  was  sacrificed  by  his  own  act,  to- 
gether with  thousands  of  his  enemies — "  men  and  women, 
and  all  the  lords  of  the  Philistines." 

Now,  looking  upon  this  history  at  large,  what  is  there  in 
it  that  should  have  given  it  a  place  in  the  records  of  Scrip- 
ture ?  This  :  that  it  is  a  fact ;  that  it  is  a  characteristic 
27 


41 8  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

fact ;  that  it  is  a  revelation  of  the  low  state  in  which  the 
best  men  of  that  time  were  living.     And  that  is  not  all.     It 
shows  that  there  are  periods  in  the  history  of  nations  in 
which   a   rude   strength    may  be  better   than  intellectual 
genius.     Moses   was   a   transcendently   better   man    than 
Samson  ;  he  was  one  of  the  noblest  men  of  all  time  ;  and 
yet,  when  he  thought  himself  called  on  to  exert  his  strength, 
he  slew  the  Egyptian,  and  turned  and  ran.     He  was  not 
fit   for   deeds    that   required    great  physical  energy  ;  but 
patience,  wisdom,  skill  in  organization,  moral  power — of 
these  he  had  an  ample  endowment.     In    that  later  time, 
however,  without  a  government,  when  every  man  did  that 
which  was  right  in  his  own  sight,  in  a  country  without 
roads  or  institutions,  there  rose  up  this  gigantic    fellow, 
Samson,  who  brought  fear  to  the  hearts  of  the  adversaries 
of  his  people  ;  and  he  was  adapted  to  the  rudeness,  the 
coarseness,  the  vulgarity  of  his  time.     It  is  often  the  case 
that  a  man  who  is  not  himself  remarkable  for  goodness 
is  in  many  respects  better  qualified  for  taking  care  of  bad 
men  than  another  man  that  is  wholly  good.     I  speak  with- 
out disrespect,  and  w^ith  the  utmost  sincerity,  and  in  some 
respects  with  sympathy,  wdien  I  say  that  though  Thaddeus 
Stevens  was  not  a  man  whose  character  should  be  taken  as 
a  model  for  young  men  to  build  on,  yet,  as  the  founder  of  the 
common-school  system  of  Pennsylvania,  he  has  an  enduring 
fame  ;  and  in  national  matters,  at  a  time  when  men  were 
treacherous,  and  when  what  we  wanted  was  a  man  who 
dared  to  venture  all  for  the  land  that  he  loved,  to  take  a 
stalwart  stand  for  freedom  and  against  slavery,  he  loomed 
up  a  grand  figure.     Not  for  everything,  but  just  for  that, 
he  made  his  mark  ;  and  his  name  will  go  down  in  history 
among  the  names  of  memorable  men  to  whom  the  country 
is  indebted. 

While,  then,  Samson  was  fitted  to  his  age,  to  his  nation, 
and  to  the  work  that  was  to  be  accomplished,  and  accord- 
ing to  the  standard  of  that  age  was  honorable  and  respect- 
able, according  to  the  standard  of  later  times,  and  the  con- 
ception of  humanity  which  prevails  to-day,  he  was  one  of 


SAJ/SOX.  419 

the  poorest  specimens  that  could  be  selected  from  antiquity. 
But  how  many  men  to-day,  no  better  than  he  in  respect  to 
the  things  in  which  he  was  bad,  are  not  as  good  as  he  in  re~ 
spect  to  the  things  in  which  he  was  good  !  How  many 
men  are  coarse,  how  many  men  are  full  of  animal  appe- 
tites, how  many  men  are  vindictive  and  cruel,  how  many 
men  have  no  care  for  their  families,  still  less  for  their  coun- 
try, and  no  thought  except  for  their  own  physical  enjoy- 
ment, and  yet  think  themselves  to  be  good  because  they 
are  no  worse  than  they  are  I 

In  looking  back  upon  the  history  of  the  period  that  is 
described  in  the  book  of  Judges  I  have  merely  to  say,  in 
conclusion,  that  this  book  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
of  the  Old  Testament.  The  simplicity  of  it,  the  pictur- 
esqueness  of  it,  the  wonderful  variety  of  its  contents,  the 
honesty  of  it,  make  it  a  book  that  can  be  read  with  profit. 
There  are  some  things  in  it  that  go  as  deep,  and  some  that 
go  as  high,  as  the  productions  of  any  of  the  dramatists  of 
the  English  language.  But,  quite  aside  from  its  literary 
merit,  it  is  a  book  of  inspiration  and  revelation.  It  reveals 
a  state  of  society  from  which  the  world  has  emerged,  and 
on  our  escape  from  which  we  ought  to  look  with  gratitude. 

But  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  the  rude  things  recorded 
in  it  were  the  only  things  that  were  happening  at  the 
time  to  which  it  refers.  During  that  very  period  of  history 
w^ere  enacted  scenes  of  beauty.  Forth  from  it  came  strains 
of  entrancing  music.  Upon  the  cheek  of  this  rugged  book 
of  Judges  lies  the  exquisite  poem  of  Ruth.  That  charm- 
ing idyl  would  seem  almost  like  the  song  of  children  and 
the  voice  of  mothers  ;  it  is  pure,  lovely,  and  in  every  way 
delightful.  To  that  I  shall  call  your  attention  next  Sunday 
night. 


XXIII. 
NAOMIAND  RUTH. 


A  DIAMOND  in  its  rough  and  ordinary  state  is  not  lus- 
trous nor  beautiful  ;  nor  is  it  so  until  it  has  been  ground, 
and  artificial  facets  and  angles  are  raised  upon  it  :  but 
when  it  has  gone  through  the  processes  of  being  cut  and 
polished  it  is  one  of  the  loveliest  of  gems.  The  pearl,  how- 
ever^ suffers  no  hand  to  touch  it.  It  is  already  perfect,  and 
handling  mars  it. 

There  are  many  doctrinal  passages  in  the  Bible  that  are 
obscure,  and  that  need  much  exposition  to  discover  the 
precious  truth  within  them.  There  are  some — and  we  have 
come  upon  one  of  them  to-night — that  would  be  in  danger 
of  being  dimmed  and  hurt  if  handled. 

This  book  of  Ruth  has  but  four  chapters  ;  and  yet,  where 
can  you  find  four  other  such  chapters  ?  It  is  not  for  every- 
body, nor  for  anybody  at  all  times,  to  read  this  book.  You 
cannot  prepare  to  read  it  with  your  dictionary  and  your 
commentary.  There  are  some  strains  of  poetry  which  a 
man  can  read  only  when,  in  the  mutations  of  feeling,  he 
comes  around  to  the  very  point  of  feeling  from  which 
those  poems  came.  A  man  in  the  heyday  of  joy  and  hilar- 
ity cannot  read  the  "  In  Memoriam  "  of  Tennyson.  A  man 
cast  into  profound  grief  cannot  enter  into  some  of  the  most 
exquisite  poems  of  joy  and  fantasy. 

The  book  of  Ruth  should  be  read  when  the  world  has 
subsided   from  about  us.     You  cannot  read  it  nor  under- 
stand it  if  you  are  cumbered  with  the  habits  of  modern  • 
society,  with  our  highly  artificial  conditions,  with  an  utter 


Sunday  evening,  May  4,  1S79.     LiiSSON  :  I'su.  xxiii. 


.VA  OMI  AND  R  LfTH.  ^2 1 

difference  of  standpoint  as  to  manners  and  customs.     It 
runs  far  back  into  antiquit}'.     Its  scenes  were  cast  not  only 
in  a  remote  age  and  in  an  Oriental  nation,  but  in  a  time  of 
society  that  was  very  simple  in  occupations,  being  not  pas- 
toral, nor  absolutely  agricultural.     Society  had   but   little 
classification.      Its  life   as  well  as  its  pursuits  were  very 
simple.     No  lordly  dwellings  were  there  for  the  rich,  with 
hovels  for  the  poor.     Men  lived  very  near  to  each  other, 
both  in  locality  and  in  condition.      A  little  more  land,  a 
little  more  grain,  a  few  more  cattle,  a  few  more  robes,'  a 
little  more  gold  or  silver,  differentiated  the  several  classes  ; 
but  men  lived  near  together,  and  upon  a  level.     In  this  state 
of  society,  if  we   come  into   sympathy  with  it,  there  is  un- 
folded that  exquisite  idyl  of  antiquity  in  which  there  is  not 
a  malicious  person  ;  in  which  the  Devil  does  not  show  so 
much  as  the  top   of  his  poll  ;  in  which  all  coarse  passions 
are  subordinated  ;  in  which  the  sweeter  elements  of  life  rise 
up  and  blossom.     It  is  a  garden  of  perfume  from  beginning 
to  end,  and  it  must  be  read  in  a  spirit  of  reverence,  and 
with  a  refined  appreciation  of  natural  virtues.    That  is  what 
makes  it  so  hard  for  me  to  do  anything  more  than  to  read 
it — but  I  must  do  more. 

"  Now  it  came  to  pass  in  the  clays  when  the  Judges  ruled,  that  there  was 
a  famine  in  the  land." 

We  have  been  wading  through  those  times.  We  have 
had  our  hands  full  of  the  camp.  We  have  marched  with 
Moses  and  with  Joshua.  We  have  crossed  the  Jordan  with 
them.  We  have  gone  into  the  seven  years'  war  of  dispos- 
session and  of  possession.  We  emerged  from  that  heroic 
age.  We  came  into  the  slough  of  the  times  of  the  Judges,  - 
when  every  man  did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes. 
We  have  oscillated  with  the  people,  plunging  into  captiv- 
ity to  paganism  and  the  pagans,  and  then  after  many 
years  coming  forth  under  some  natural  leader  that  rose  up 
and  broke  the  chain,  and  led  captivity  captive.  Our  ears 
have  been  filled  with  the  sounds  of  war — wars  of  wicked- 
ness and  extermination  ;  and  the  smell  of  blood  has  become 
stenchful   to  us.     We  are  tired  of  freebooters,  and   Jeph- 


422  BIBLE  STCDIKS. 

thahs,  and  Samsons.  We  liave  been  in  rough  conflicts 
among  a  nide  people  in  a  cruel  age. 

Finally,  the  uproar  ceases,  and  we  find  ourselves  in  a 
beautiful  valley,  as  it  were,  walled  in  with  mountains,  fruit- 
ful, abounding  in  green  pastures  and  still  waters.  The 
people  lived  a  lovely  life,  in  which  there  was  not  one  single 
discord,  and  not  one  cacophonous  sound. 

Famines  were  common  at  that  tim.e,  and  are  common  m 
that  land  still,  partly  from  want  of  skillful  agriculture,  and 
partly  from  climatic  reasons. 

We  have  somewhat  the  parallel  of  these  famines,  in 
Southern  California.  No  husbandman  can  control  the 
wind-currents  and  the  moisture  ;  and  every  five  or  seven 
years  there  comes  a  time  when  these  currents  and  the 
moisture  refuse  to  flow,  and  all  summer  long  there  is 
drought,  drought,  drought  ;  and  the  pastures  fail,  and  the 
sheep  die  by  thousands,  and  the  large  adventurers  are 
bankrupt, — except  as  they  have  learned  the  moistening  of 
the  soil  .by  culture  and  by  irrigation. 

So  it  was  in  the  hill  country  of  Judah. 

"  There  was  a  famine  in  the  land.  And  a  certain  man  of  Beth-lehem-judah 
[there  were  two  Bethlehems — Beth-leheni-judah  and  Bethlehem]  went  to 
sojourn  in  the  country  of  Moab,  he,  and  his  wife,  and  his  two  sons.  And 
the  name  of  the  man  was  Elinielech  \_El,  in  almost  erery  case  in  which  it  is 
found  in  the  Hebrew  is  equivalent  to  the  \^ox^  god ;  and  ElimelecJi  means 
my  god,  my  kijig.  A  very  great  name;  and  a  very  good  man  he  must  have 
been  that  could  carry  such  a  name],  and  the  name  of  his  wife  Xaomi  [which 
means  pleasant,  lo-^ely,  I'caufifid,  not  simply  in  the  sense  of  comeliness,  but  in 
the  sense  of  efflorescence  of  disposition.  There  is  nothing  in  this  world  so 
beautiful  as  the  shining  forth  of  the  soul  of  a  woman],  and  the  name  of  his 
two  sons  Malilon  and  Chilion,  Ephrathites  of  Beth-lehem-judah. 

"And  they  came  into  the  country  of  Moab,  and  continued  there.  And 
Elimelech  Xaomi 's  husband  died  ;  and  she  was  left,  and  her  two  sons." 

To  the  east  of  the  Dead  Sea  is  the  territory  of  IMoab. 
Although  the  western  side  of  it  is  mountainous,  consisting 
of  a  high  plateau,  the  further  east  3'ou  go  the  more  is  it 
streaked  with  fertile  pasture  valleys.  These  were  appar- 
ently watered  by  tlic  streams  that  flowed  down  from  the 
hills.  Into  this  country  Elimelech  had  gone  to  escape 
from   the    famine  of   his  own   land.      Commentators  have 


NAOMI  AXD  RUTH.  423 

blamed  him  for  going  tiiere.  They  have  said  that  it  was 
not  for  him  to  leave  friends  behind  and  come  into  a  fat 
country  himself.  They  have  argued  that  he  ought  to  have 
trusted  God  and  stayed  at  home.  As  well  might  they 
have  said  that  the  Patriarchs  ought  never  to  have  gone 
where  they  went.  You  might  as  well  say  that  Jacob  should 
not  have  sent  his  sons  down  to  Egypt,  but  should  have  sat 
still  and  let  the  Lord  deliver  him,  as  to  say  that  Elimelech 
should  not  have  become  an  emigrant  when  he  could  find 
nothing  to  eat.  If  his  neighbors  and  their  families  could 
not  go,  so  much  the  worse  for  them. 

But  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Moab  he  died.  And  what 
did  the  two  sons  do  ? 

"  They  took  them  wives  of  the  women  of  Moab ;  the  name  of  the  one 
was  Orpah  \the  hind,  or  7'oe],  and  the  name  of  the  other  Ruth  [Many  have 
supposed  that  meant,  in  the  original,  the  rose  ;  as  you  never  can  find  out 
you  may  just  as  well  call  her  Ruth]  :  and  they  dwelled  there  about  ten  years. 

"And  Mahlon  and  Chilion  died  also,  both  of  them  ;  and  the  woman  was 
left  of  her  two  sons  and  her  husband." 

The  Moabitish  women  seem  to  have  been  very  engaging 
and  very  beautiful.  That  was  their  reputation.  There  are 
nations  nowadays  that  have  the  same  reputation.  It  is 
said  that  Circassia,  and  some  of  the  neighboring  hill  coun- 
tries, are  famous  for  their  beautiful  daughters  ;  and  Moab 
seems  to  have  had  that  peculiarity. 

You  will  recollect  that  when  Balaam  was  unable  to  make 
headway  against  Israel  he  counseled  the  Moabites  to  em- 
ploy their  women  in  devilish  diplomacy  in  order  to  draw 
the  children  of  Israel  aside  and  corrupt  them,  that  they  did 
so,  and  that  thus  was  brought  terrific  punishment  from  the 
hand  of  Moses,  But  four  or  five  hundred  years  had  passed, 
and  Moab  had  built  up  again  the  diminished  population, 
and  the  same  peculiarities  of  physique  seem  to  have  gone 
on.     Blood  tells. 

Mahlon  and  Chilion  had  married  two  of  the  daughters 
of  Moab.  They  doubtless  were  beautiful.  They  certainly 
were  good.  This  shows  that  although  the  Moabites  were 
a  vagrant  nation  all  was  not  darkness  in  their  midst.     Their 


4^4  BIBLE  STCniES. 

life  was  not  wholly  corrupt.     The  household  among  thertl 
had  its  pure  atmosj^here  and  its  virtuous  lives. 

"  Then  she  [Naomi,  the  pleasant  and  comely]  arose  with  her  daughters-in- 
law,  that  she  might  return  from  the  country  of  Moab  :  for  she  had  heard  in 
the  country  of  Moab  how  that  the  Lord  had  visited  his  people  in  giving  them 
bread.  Wherefore  she  went  forth  out  of  the  place  where  she  was,  and  her 
two  daughters-in-law  with  her;  and  they  went  on  the  way  to  return  unto  the 
land  of  Judah." 

But  as  they  journeyed  the  magnanimous  heart  of  Naomi 
pondered  ;  she  bethought  her,  and  said,  "  Why,  though  I 
be  a  poor  homeless  widow,  should  I  drag  these  my  daugh- 
ters-in-law out  from  among  their  kindred  and  away  from 
their  fathers'  homes  ?  Sweet,  pleasant,  they  are  to  me  ; 
but  why  should  I  take  them  to  share  my  poverty  and  my 
wretchedness  ?  "  So,  with  great  generosity  of  heart  she  said 
to  them, — 

"  Go,  return  each  to  her  mother's  house  :  the  Lord  deal  kindly  with  you, 
as  ve  have  dealt  with  the  dead,  and  with  me." 

It  was  the  voice  of  a  wife  whose  husband  was  gone  ;  it 
was  the  voice  of  a  mother  whose  sons  were  dead  ;  it  was 
the  voice  of  a  widowed  stranger. 

"  The  Lord  grant  [she  said  to  them]  that  ye  may  find  rest,  each  of  you  in 
the  house  of  her  husband.  Then  she  kissed  them  ;  and  they  lifted  up  their 
voice,  and  wept. 

"And  they  said  unto  her,  Surely  we  will  return  with  thee  unto  thy  peo- 
ple. And  Naomi  said,  Turn  again,  my  daughters;  why  will  ye  go  with 
me .''  Are  there  yet  any  more  sons  in  my  womb,  that  they  maybe  your  hus- 
bands ?  Turn  again,  my  daughters,  go  your  way ;  for  I  am  too  old  to  have 
an  husband.  If  I  should  say,  I  have  hope,  if  I  should  have  an  husband  also 
to-night,  and  should  also  bear  sons  ;  would  ye  tarry  for  them  till  they  were 
grown  ?  Would  ye  stay  for  them  from  having  husbands  }  Nay,  my  daugh- 
ters ;  for  it  grieveth  me  much  for  your  sakes  that  the  hand  of  the  Lord  is 
gone  out  against  me. 

"Ai\(l  they  lifted  up  their  voice,  and  wept  again:  and  Orpah  kissed  her 
mother-in-law  [that  was  the  sign  of  farewell]  ;  but  Ruth  clave  unto  her." 

Orpah  was  sincere,  she  was  true,  she  loved  her  mother- 
in-law,  she  clung  to  her  :  nevertheless,  her  heart  was  warm 
for  her  father's  house,  for  the  friends  she  had  left  behind, 
for  the  country  of  her  nativity  ;  and,  being  in  a  strait 
betwixt  two,  and  acting  under  the  influence  of  a  natural 


A^A  OMI  A  A  ^D  R  L  ^TII.  42  5 

generous  affection,  she  went  b£ick  and  settled  again  in   her 
father's  household. 

But  Ruth  had  more  personal  attachment,  and  she  re- 
mained with  their  mother-in-law. 

"And  she  [Naomi]  said,  Behold,  thy  sister-in-law  is  gone  back  unto  her 
people,  and  unto  her  gods :  return  thou  after  thy  sister-in-law. 

"And  Ruth  said,  Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  or  to  return  from  follow- 
ing after  thee  :  for  whither  thou  goest,  I  will  go  ;  and  where  thou  lodgest, 
I  will  lodge  :  thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God  mv  God.  Where 
thou  diest,  will  I  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried  ;  the  Lord  do  so  to  me,  and 
more  also,  if  aught  but  death  part  thee  and  me." 

If  ever  heart  had  tongue,  and  spoke  the  words  of  love, 

simple,  pure,  and  deep,  that  was  the  utterance  of  it  ;    and 

it    has    passed    into    universal   literature.       It    is    diffused 

throughout   poetr3\     It  has  almost  become   a   proverb  — 

this  Moabitish  maiden's  beautiful  and  true  love,  that  cared 

nothing  for  itself,  but   cared  all   for  the  one  loved — it  has 

sweetened  the  world  ;  through   four  thousand  years  it  has 

syllabled  itself  in  almost   every  language,  and  is  to-day  as 

beautiful  and  true  as  it  was  when  first  uttered  ;  and  sorry 

am  I  for  anybody  that  can  read  these  words  and  keep  dry 

eyes. 

"  When  she  saw  that  she  was  steadfastly  minded  to  go  with  her,  then  she 
left  speaking  unto  her." 

I  know  that  Naomi  was  glad,  from  the  very  bottom  of 
her  heart.  She  counseled  her  daughters-in-law  to  return, 
not  because  she  felt  that  she  could  spare  them, — she  longed 
to  keep  them  with  her, — but  because  she  thought  it  was 
best.  Hers  was  ripe  love,  that  showed  itself  in  action. 
Ruth's  was  love  midway,  that  showed  itself  not  only  in 
action  but  also  in  words. 

"  So  they  two  went  until  they  came  to  Pjeth-lehem." 

And  now  we  have  the  village  life  indeed.  The  word  that 
comes  in  at  the  edge  of  the  neighborhood  runs  from  house 
to  house,  nobody  knows  how  ;  but  everybody  has  found 
out  that  Naomi  has  come  back.  The  whole  place  is  in 
excitement.  When  she  went  away  she  was  the  wife  of  a 
person  of  distinction  ;  she  belonged,  that  is  to  say,  to  the 


426  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

upper  class.  The  upper  class  was  not  very  far  from  the 
bottom,  to  be  sure  ;  but  the  upper  class  is  the  upper  class 
everywhere. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  when  they  were  come  to  Beth-lehem,  that  all  the 
city  was  moved  about  them,  and  they  said,  Is  this  Xaomi?  And  she  said 
unto  them,  Call  me  not  Naomi,  call  me  Mara  [Bitter] :  for  the  Almighty 
hath  dealt  very  bitterly  with  me." 

With  us  names  are  mere  bell-pulls  and  door-knockers — 
things  hung  on  a  ma.n  without  any  regard  to  their  signifi- 
cance, to  distinguish  him  from  his  neighbors  ;  this  is  the 
case  with  all  nations  which  are  advanced  in  civilization  ; 
but  in  that  primitive  age,  as  also  among  our  American  In- 
dians to-day,  names  were  always  significant,  as  they  arose 
from  external  circumstances.  You  will  recollect  that  pas- 
sage of  exceeding  pathos  where  Rachel,  in  giving  birth  to 
Benjamin,  as  her  soul  was  departing  ("  for  she  died,"  the 
narrative  says),  called  his  name  Ben-oni,  Child  of  my  Sor- 
row ;  but  the  father  in  his  pride  and  joy  called  him  Ben- 
jamin, Son  of  my  Right  hand.  So  everywhere  throughout 
the  olden  time  you  will  find  that  names  had  meanings  in 
them, 

And  this  woman  was  called  Naomi,  the  Pleasant,  the 
Beautiful,  the  Comely  ;  but  she  said,  "  Do  not  call  me  the 
Beautiful  any  more — call  me  the  Bitter  ;  for  God  hath 
dealt  bitterly  with  me." 

"  I  went  out  full  [with  my  husband  and  two  sons],  and  the  Lord  hath 
brought  me  home  again  empty  :  why  then  call  ye  me  Naomi,  seeing  the  Lord 
hath  testified  against  me,  and  the  Almighty  hath  afflicted  me .''  So  Naomi 
returned,  and  Ruth  the  Moabitess,  her  daughter-in-law,  with  her,  which 
returned  out  of  the  country  of  Moab  :  and  they  came  to  Beth-lehem  in  the 
beginning  of  barley  harvest." 

That  is  the  first  scene  in  this  little  drama.  Now  comes 
the  next. 

"Naomi  had  a  kinsman  of  her  husband's,  a  mighty  man  of  wealth,  of  the 
family  of  Elimelech  ;  and  his  name  was  Boaz.  And  Ruth  the  Moabitess 
said  unto  Naomi,  Let  me  now  go  to  the  field,  and  glean  ears  of  corn  after 
him  in  whose  sight  I  shall  find  grace.  And  she  said  unto  her,  Go,  my 
daughter." 

Ruth  betook  herself  to   tliat  which   she  thought  would 


NAOMI  AXD  RVTIL  427 

support  her  mother.  Her  love  was  not  simply  sentiment 
— it  was  life  and  action  ;  and  she  went  forth,  after  the 
manner  of  that  country,  to  earn  her  daily  bread. 

Now,  support  there  was  not  very  expensive,  as  we  shall 
see  by  and  by,  where  a  rich  man  and  his  laborers  would 
sit  down  contentedly  to  a  meal  of  parched  corn  and  rice. 
The  luxury  of  such  living  did  not  require  very  severe  toil  ; 
and  yet  this  was  the  living  of  that  day  even  among  the 
rich.  Now  and  then,  however,  there  were  great  feasts, 
which  contrasted  strongly  with  the  ordinary  livelihood. 

"And  she  went,  and  came,  and  gleaned  in  the  field  after  the  reapers :  and 
her  hap  was  to  light  on  a  part  of  the  field  belonging  unto  Boaz,  who  was  of 
the  kindred  of  Elimelech." 

The  redeemer,  the  defender — such  is  the  original  of  that 
term  kinsman.  It  sprang  from  the  familiar  habit  of  the 
Jewish  people  by  which  families  were  kept  together,  so  that 
when  a  husband  died  the  wife  of  the  deceased  was  wedded 
to  one  of  the  brothers,  or  to  some  of  his  kindred.  Hence 
he  became  her  defender  or  redeemer.  If  the  husband, 
dying,  left  landed  property  and  a  widow,  it  was  not  comely 
for  her  to  marry  out  of  the  family  connection,  thus  bring- 
ing another  name  or  strain  of  blood  into  the  possession  of 
that  property  ;  for  it  was  the  policy  of  the  Mosaic  economy 
to  keep  the  landed  property  together  in  certain  families  or 
tribes.  There  were  what  are  called  levirate  (brother-in-law) 
marriages,  whereby  the  widow  of  a  son  was  united  to  the 
next  son.  They  gave  rise,  you  know,  to  the  question  which 
was  put  to  our  Saviour,  in  the  New  Testament,  respecting 
the  case  in  which  a  woman  was  married  to  seven  succes- 
sive brothers,  and  then  died,  and  the  question  was  asked, 
"  Whose  wife  shall  she  be  of  the  seven  ?  for  they  all  had 
her."  Such  a  question  as  that  would  be  impossible  to  our 
society,  in  our  time  ;  but  among  the  Jews  and  in  the  East 
it  fell  in  entirely  with  their  manners  and  customs.  It 
seemed  both  decorous  and  moral  to  them,  though  to  us  it 
would  seem  monstrous. 

"  Behold,  Boaz  came  from  Beth-lehem,  and  said  unto  the  reapers,  The 
Lord  be  with  you.     And  they  answered  him,  The  Lord  bless  thee." 


428  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

It  was  their  ordinary  mode  of  salutation.  It  was  beauti- 
ful for  the  owner  of  a -field  to  go  forth  and  greet  his  reap- 
ers thus,  and  for  them  to  greet  him  in  the  same  spirit. 
What  if  a  director  of  a  railroad,  nowadays,  should  come 
out  in  the  morning,  and  say  to  his  workmen,  "  The  Lord 
be  with  you  I  "  What  would  they  think,  or  say  ?  So  it 
seems  to  us  a  wonderful  period  in  which  the  householder 
and  master  addressed  those  who  served  him  in  these  stately 
words,  "The  Lord  be  with  you,"  and  they  said  in  reply, 
"  The  Lord  bless  thee."  It  was  a  good  deal  better  than 
the  best  of  our  salutations.  Take,  for  instance,  our  "  Good- 
bye." That,  you  know,  is  "  God  be  with  you" — shrunk  up 
to  a  skin. 

"  Then  said  Boaz  unto  his  servant  that  was  set  over  the  reapers  [for  he 
had  eyes  in  his  head],  Whose  damsel  is  this.' 

"And  the  servant  that  was  set  over  the  reapers  answered  and  said,  It  is 
the  Moabitish  damsel  that  came  back  with  Naomi  out  of  the  country  of 
Moab:  and  she  said,  I  pray  you,  let  me  glean  and  gather  after  the  reapers 
among  the  sheaves  :  so  she  came,  and  hath  continued  even  from  the  morn- 
ing until  now,  that  she  tarried  a  little  in  the  house." 

The  custom  of  gleaning  prevails  in  the  East  to-day  that 
prevailed  at  that  time.  In  Palestine  you  will  find  that 
men  are  cast  in  the  same  mold  that  they  were  when  Ruth 
and  Boaz  lived.  They  talk  in  the  same  way.  They  reap 
in  the  same  way.  There  has  been  no  change  there  in  the 
methods  of  agriculture  for  four  thousand  years. 

"  Then  said  Boaz  unto  Ruth,  Hearest  thou  not,  my  daughter.''  Go  not  to 
glean  in  another  field,  neither  go  from  hence,  but  abide  here  fast  by  my 
maidens :  let  thine  eyes  '->e  nn  the  field  that  they  do  reap,  and  go  thou  after 
them." 

There  is  giv...t  benignit}''.  *' Do  not  go  into  any  other 
field,  where  you  may  not  be  well  treated  :  stay  in  my  fieldj' 
These  rude  reapers,  gathered  from  every  whither  during 
harvest  time,  were  not  always  select  in  their  language,  and 
they  doubtless  oftentimes  had  their  equals  in  the  stray 
women  that  bound  up  the  sheaves.  But  Boaz  seems  to  have 
had  confidence  in  his  own  retainers,  and  said  to  Ruth,  "  Fol- 
low after  my  maidens."  It  was  her  protection  that  he  had 
in   mind. 


NAOMI  AXD  RUTH.  429 

"  Have  I  not  charged  the  young  men  that  they  shall  not  touch  thee  ?  " 
In  those  far-off  times,  there  was  a  man  with  a  sensitive 
and  delicate  nature,  and  that  was  Boaz.  He  could  not 
endure  to  see  the  rough  hand  of  a  coarse  fellow  slapping 
a  woman's  shoulders,  or  pinching  her  arms^  or  taking  those 
rude  liberties  that  are  thought  even  by  some  young  gentle- 
men in  our  day  to  be  compatible  with  refinement.  They 
had  better  turn  back  and  go  to  school  to  Boaz.  I  am 
ashamed  of  many  of  the  unlicked  bears'  cubs  that  pass 
themselves  off  for  men  of  society  at  this  advanced  age  of 
the  world.  Would  that  they  were  in  the  field  reaping, 
and  that  Boaz  was  over  them  ! 

"And  when  thou  art  athirst,  go  unto  the  vessels,  and  drink  of  that  which 
the  young  men  have  drawn. 

"  Then  she  fell  on  her  face,  and  bowed  herself  to  the  ground,  and  said 
unto  him,  Why  have  I  found  grace  in  thine  eyes,  that  thou  shouldest  take 
knowledge  of  me,  seeing  I  am  a  stranger  } " 

She  was  as  modest  as  she  was  sweet  and  beautiful. 

"And  Boaz  answered  and  said  unto  her,  It. hath  fully  been  shewed  me,  all 
that  thou  hast  done  unto  thy  mother-in-law  since  the  death  of  thine  hus- 
band :  and  how  thou  hast  left  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  and  the  land  of 
thy  nativity,  and  art  come  unto  a  people  which  thou  knewest  not  hereto- 
fore." 

There  is  the  history  of  love  over  and  over  and  over  again. 
The  heart  that  loves  lives  for  love's  sake. 

"  The  Lord  recompense  thy  work,  and  a  full  reward  be  given  thee  of  the 
Lord  God  of  Israel,  under  whose  wings  thou  art  come  to  trust.  Then  she 
said.  Let  me  find  favor  in  thy  sight,  my  lord ;  for  that  thou  hast  comforted 
me,  and  for  that  thou  hast  spoken  friendly  unto  thine  handmaid,  though  I 
be  not  like  unto  one  of  thine  handmaidens." 

She  shrank  from  the  comparison,  and  put  herself  lower 

than  his  handmaidens. 

"And  Boaz  said  unto  her  [she  won  him  at  every  step  by  her  tongue],  At 
mealtime,  come  thou  hither,  and  eat  of  the  bread,  and  dip  thy  morsel  in 
the  vinegar.  And  she  sat  beside  the  reapers  :  and  he  reached  her  parched 
corn,  and  she  did  eat,  and  was  sufficed,  and  left.  And  when  she  was  risen 
up  to  glean,  Boaz  [he  could  not  do  enough ;  he  began  to  feel  very  benevo- 
lent] commanded  his  young  men,  saying,  Let  her  glean  even  among  the 
sheaves,  and  reproach  her  not :  and  let  fall  also  some  of  the  handfuls  of 
purpose  for  her,  and  leave  them,  that  she  may  glean  them,  and  rebuke  her 


430  ■   BIBLE  STUDIES. 

not.     So  she  gleaned  in  the  field  until  even,  and  beat  out  that  she  had 
gleaned  :  and  it  was  about  an  ephah  of  barley." 

What  an  ephah  was  we  do  not  know,  but  it  is  computed 
to  have  been  about  fifty-five  pounds  of  wheat.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  measure,  it  was  evidently  a  ver}^  good 
day's  gleaning  in  those  simple  times. 

That  is  the  second  scene — the  scene  of  the  field.  Next, 
Ruth  returned  to  her  mother-in-law.  Now,  Naomi  had 
been  a  beautiful  woman,  doubtless,  in  her  youth  ;  and  a 
handsome  woman  that  is  good  becomes  more  handsome  as 
she  grows  old.  Where  the  disposition  is  bad  no  cosmetics 
can  cover  it  ;  and  no  cosmetics  are  needed  where  there  is 
goodness.  I  have  no  doubt  that  Naomi  was  still  comely 
and  beautiful  though  she  called  herself  "  Mara." 

Nevertheless,  good  as  she  was,  she  was  shrewd.  A 
mother  that  has  brought  up  children,  and  taken  care  of 
them  for  a  long  period,  has  a  very  good  notion  of  manage- 
ment ;  and  Naomi  had  a  most  sagacious  idea  of  it. 

"And  she  [Ruth]  took  it  [the  barley]  up,  and  went  into  the  city  ;  and  her 
mother-in-law  saw  what  she  had  gleaned  :  and  she  brought  forth,  and  gave 
to  her  that  she  had  reserved  after  she  was  sufficed." 

She  had  brought  home  some  of  the  [^arched  corn. 

"And  her  mother-in-law  said  unto  her,  Where  hast  thou  gleaned  to-day; 
and  where  wroughtest  thou  ?  Blessed  be  he  that  did  take  knowledge  of 
thee. 

"And  she  shewed  her  mother-in-law  with  whom  she  had  wrought,  and 
said.  The  man's  name  with  whom  I  wrought  to-day  is  Boaz. 

"And -Naomi  said  unto  her  daughter-in-law,  Blessed  be  he  of  the  Lord, 
who  hath  not  left  off  his  kindness  to  the  living  and  to  the  dead.  And 
Naomi  said  unto  her,  The  man  is  near  of  kin  unto  us,  one  of  our  next 
kinsmen." 

There  was  light  beginning  to  dawn  on  the  darkness. 

"And  Ruth  the  Moabitess  said,  lie  said  unto  me  also,  Thou  shalt  keep 
fast  by  my  young  men,  until  they  have  ended  all  my  harvest.  And  Naomi 
said  unto  Ruth  her  daughter-in-law.  It  is  good,  my  daughter,  that  thou  go 
out  with  his  maidens,  that  they  meet  thee  not  in  any  other  field. 

"  So  she  kept  fast  by  the  maidens  of  Boaz  to  glean  unto  the  end  of  barley 
harvest  and  of  wheat  harvest ;  and  dwelt  with  her  mother-in-law." 

Meantime,  Naomi  kept  on  thinking^. 


jVA oj/i  axd  ruth.  431 

"  Then  Naomi  her  mother-in-law  said  unto  her,  My  daughter,  shall  I  not 
seek  rest  for  thee,  that  it  may  be  well  with  thee?  And  now  is  not  Boaz  of 
our  kindred  [our  redeemer]  with  whose  maidens  thou  wast  ?  Behold,  he 
winnoweth  barley  to-night  in  the  threshing-floor." 

When  the  barley  was  gathered  from  the  sickle  into  sheaves, 
and  threshed  out,  it  was  next  carried  to  the  winnowing  floor  ; 
and  then  it  was  in  the  state  in  which  men  could  steal  it,  if 
they  wished — and  there  never  was  a  time  when  somebody 
did  not  wish  to  steal.  Therefore,  it  was  the  custom  of  the 
husbandman  and  householder  to  go  down  with  his  family 
and  see  to  the  winnowing,  and  sleep  at  night  where  his 
grain  was.  It  was  his  year's  livelihood,  his  treasure,  and 
it  must  be  looked  after.  Naomi  knew  the  custom  ;  and 
she  said  to  her  daughter-in-law — and  there  was  nothing  on 
earth  purer,  simpler,  more  righteous,  according  to  the  ideas 
and  the  customs  of  the  country,  than  the  directions  given 
her  : — 

"Wash  thyself,  therefore,  and  anoint  thee,  and  put  thy  raiment  upon 
thee,  and  get  thee  down  to  the  floor :  but  make  not  thyself  known  unto  the 
man,  until  he  shall  have  done  eating  and  drinking.  And  it  shall  be,  when 
he  lieth  down,  that  thou  shalt  mark  the  place  where  he  shall  lie,  and  thou 
shalt  go  in,  and  uncover  his  feet,  and  lay  thee  down  ;  and  he  will  tell  thee 
what  thou  shalt  do." 

To  the  pure  all  things  are  pure.  Custom  determines 
what  is  right  and  wrong  in  social  intercourse. 

"And  she  said  unto  her,  All  that  thou  sayest  unto  me  I  will  do.  And 
she  went  down  unto  the  floor,  and  did  according  to  all  that  her  mother-in- 
law  bade  her.  And  when  Boaz  had  eaten  and  drunk,  and  his  heart  was 
merry,  he  went  to  lie  down  at  the  end  of  the  heap  of  corn  :  and  she  came 
softly,  and  uncovered  his  feet,  and  laid  her  down. 

"And  it  came  to  pass  at  midnight,  that  the  man  was  afraid  [startled],  and 
turned  himself :  and,  behold,  a  woman  lay  at  his  feet.  And  he  said,  Who 
art  thou  ?  And  she  answered,  I  am  Ruth  thine  handmaid  :  spread  there- 
fore thy  skirt  over  thine  handmaid  ;  for  thou  art  a  near  kinsman. 

"And  he  said,  Blessed  be  thou  of  the  Lord,  my  daughter  :  for  thou  hast 
shewed  more  kindness  in  the  latter  end  than  at  the  beginning,  inasmuch  as 
thou  foUowedst  not  young  men,  whether  poor  or  rich.  And  now,  my  daugh- 
ter, fear  not;  I  will  do  to  thee  all  that  thou  requirest :  for  all  the  city  of  my 
people  doth  know  that  thou  art  a  virtuous  woman.  And  now  it  is  true  that 
I  am  thy  near  kinsman:  howbeilPthere  is  a  kinsman  nearer  than  I.  Tarry 
this  night,  and  it  shall  be  in  the  morning,  that  if  he  will  perform  unto  thee 


432  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

the  part  of  a  kinsman,  well ;  let  him  do  the  kinsman's  part :  but  if  he  will 
not  do  the  part  of  a  kinsman  to  thee,  then  will  I  do  the  part  of  a  kinsman 
to  thee,  as  the  Lord  liveth  :  lie  down  until  the  morning. 

"And  she  lay  at  his  feet  until  the  morning  :  and  she  rose  up  before  one 
could  know  another.  And  he  said,  Let  it  not  be  known  that  a  woman  came 
into  the  floor  [her  reputation  was  dear  to  him].  Also  he  said.  Bring  the 
vail  that  thou  hast  upon  thee,  and  hold  it.  And  when  she  held  it,  he  meas- 
ured six  measures  of  barley,  and  laid  it  on  her:  and  she  went  into  the  city. 

"And  when  she  came  to  her  mother-in-law,  she  said  [for  it  was  dark,  so 
that  she  could  not  tell  certainly  who  was  coming],  Who  art  thou,  my  daugh- 
ter ?  And  she  told  her  all  that  the  man  had  done  to  her.  And  she  said, 
These  six  measures  of  barley  gave  he  me  ;  for  he  said  to  me.  Go  not  empty 
unto  thy  mother-in-law.  Then  said  she.  Sit  still,  my  daughter,  until  thou 
know  how  the  matter  will  fall  [She  knew  that  the  enchantment  of  love  had 
begun.  She  had  no  fear  but  that  Boaz  would  take  the  next  proper  step] : 
for  the  man  will  not  be  in  rest,  until  he  have  finished  the  thing  this  day." 

True  !  Wise  old  woman  !  She  understood  the  case. 
This  was  the  next  scene  in  the  drama.  There  was  a  court- 
ship, in  fact.  It  was  not  Boaz  that  in  the  first  instance 
courted  Ruth  ;  she  courted  him.  And  similar  instances 
liave  been  occurring  from  that  day  until  this — not  in  words, 
not  in  obvious  ways,  but  in  reality.  A  look  is  louder  than 
speech.  A  gesture,  a  posture,  winning  sympathy,  the  very 
exhalation  of  virtue  and  of  beauty,  throw  about  a  man  an 
atmosphere  of  enchantment.  Talk  of  a  woman's  being 
deprived  of  the  privileges  of  approach  !  A  true  woman, 
with  a  great  heart,  emits  an  influence  such  that  whoever 
comes  within  it  is  transfigured  in  all  that  he  sees,  and  she 
walks  a  goddess  before  him. 

Now  comes  the  fourth  scene,  which  reveals  the  manners 
and  customs  of  the  times.  We  have  disclosed  the  method 
by  which  the  transfer  of  property  by  levirate  marriage  took 
place. 

"  Then  went  Boaz  up  to  the  gate,  and  sat  him  down  there." 

They  had  no  newspapers  in  those  days.  No  notice  was 
given.  There  was  no  probate  court ;  nor  was  there  any 
surrogate.  Men  settled  their  property  transactions  in  a 
very  simple  way.  Mahlon  and  Chilion  had  died.  They 
had  been  heirs,  in  their  lifetime,  to  certain  landed  property 
which  belonged  to  their  father  Elimelech.     The  widows  of 


NAOMI  AXD  RUTH. 


433 


Mahlon  and  Chilion  of  course  had  a  certain  right  to  that 
real  estate  according  to  the  Levitical  law  ;  and  there  must 
be  some  plan  by  which  they  should  be  brought  back  by 
marriage  into  the  family.  They  could  not  marry  into  any 
neighboring  tribe  without  hazarding  the  family's  owner- 
ship of  the  land  that  was  poss-essed  by  their  deceased  hus- 
bands. There  must  be  some  kinsman  to  marry  them.  So 
Boaz  went  up  and  sat  in  the  gate.  He  was  his  own  officer, 
his  own  newspaper,  his  own  court,  and  his  own  crier. 

"And  behold,  the  kinsman  of  whom  Boaz  spake  came  by  [They  are  never 
in  a  hurry  in  the  East :  they  could  sit  down  and  wait  till  those  they  wanted 
came  along]  ;  unto  whom  he  said,  Ho,  such  a  one  !  turn  aside,  sit  down 
here. 

"And  he  turned  aside,  and  sat  down.  And  he  took  ten  men  of  the  elders 
of  the  city,  and  said.  Sit  ye  down  here.  And  they  sat  down  [In  that  hot 
climate  men  are  always  willing  to  sit].  And  he  said  unto  the  kinsman, 
Naomi,  that  is  come  again  out  of  the  country  of  Moab,  selleth  a  parcel  of 
land,  which  was  our  brother  Elimelech's  :  and  I  thought  to  advertise  thee, 
saying,  Buy  it  before  the  inhabitants,  and  before  the  elders  of  my  people. 
If  thou  wilt  redeem  it,  redeem  it :  but  if  thou  wilt  not  redeem  it,  then  tell 
me,  that  I  may  know :  for  there  is  none  to  redeem  it  beside  thee  :  and  I 
am  after  thee. 

"And  he  said,  I  willredeem  it. 

"  Then  said  Boaz.  What  day  thou  buyest  the  field  of  the  hand  of  Naomi, 
thou  must  buy  it  also  of  Ruth  the  Moabitess,  the  wife  of  the  dead,  to  raise 
up  the  name  of  the  dead  upon  his  inheritance." 

This  kinsman  evidently  had  not  seen  Ruth.  She  had 
not  been  reaping  in  his  field,  had  not  lain  at  his  feet,  had 
not  eaten  of  his  parched  corn,  and  had  not  drunk  of  his 
wine. 

"And  the  kinsman  said,  I  cannot  redeem  it  for  myself,  lest  I  mar  mine 
own  inheritance  :  redeem  thou  my  right  to  thyself;  for  I  cannot  redeem  it. 
Now  this  was  the  manner  in  former  time  in  Israel  concerning  redeeming 
and  concerning  changing,  for  to  confirm  all  things;  a  man  plucked  off  his 
shoe,  and  gave  it  to  his  neighbor  :  and  this  was  a  testimony  in  Israel. 
Therefore  the  kinsman  said  unto  Boaz,  Buy  it  for  thee.  So  he  drew  off  his 
shoe. 

"And  Boaz  said  unto  the  elders,  and  unto  all  the  people,  Ye  are  wit- 
nesses this  day,  that  I  have  bought  all  that  was  Elimelech's  and  all  that  was 
Chilion's  and  Mahlon's,  of  the  hand  of  Naomi.  Moreover  Ruth  the  Moab- 
itess, the  wife  of  Mahlon,  have  I  purchased  to  be  my  wife,  to  raise  up  the 
name  of  the  dead  upon  his  inheritance,  that  the  name  of  the  dead  be  not  cut 
28 


434  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

off  from  among  his  brethren,  and  from  the  gate  of  his  place  :  ye  are  wit- 
nesses this  day.  And  all  the  people  that  were  in  the  gate,  and  the  elders, 
said,  We  are  witnesses.  The  Lord  make  the  woman  that  is  come  into 
thine  house  like  Rachel  and  like  Leah,  which  two  did  build  the  house  of 
Israel:  and  do  thou  worthily  in  Ephratah,  and  be  famous  in  Beth-lehem  : 
and  let  thy  house  be  like  the  house  of  I'harez,  whom  Tamar  bare  unto 
Judah,  of  the  seed  which  the  Lord  shall  give  thee  of  this  young  woman. 

"  So  Boaz  took  Ruth,  and  she  was  his  wife  :  and  when  he  went  in  unto 
her,  the  Lord  gave  her  conception,  and  she  bare  a  son.  And  the  women 
said  unto  Naomi,  Blessed  be  the  Lord,  which  hath  not  left  thee  this  day 
without  a  kinsman,  that  his  name  may  be  famous  in  Israel.  And  he  shall 
be  unto  thee  a  restorer  of  thy  life,  and  a  nourisher  of  thine  old  age :  for  thy 
daughter-in-law,  which  loveth  thee,  which  is  better  to  thee  than  seven  sons, 
hath  borne  him. 

"And  Naomi  took  the  child,  and  laid  it  in  her  bosom,  and  became  nurse 
unto  it.  And  the  women  her  neighbors  gave  it  a  name,  saying.  There  is 
a  son  born  to  Naomi ;  and  they  called  his  name  Obed  :  he  is  the  father  of 
Jesse,  the  father  of  David." 

And  David  stood  in  the  ancestry  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  ;  and  he  who  is  the  Saviour  of  the  whole  world  had 
thus  mingled  with  his  blood  the  blood  of  the  Moabites, — 
though  not  alone  through  this  strain,  but  through  many 
others. 

There  are  a  great  many  things  that  may  be  said  about 
that  history.  When  this  family  went  down  into  the  land 
of  Moab  they  were  driven  out  of  their  own  land  by  famine  ; 
and  it  was  bad  luck.  When  they  got  there  Elimelech  died  ; 
— bad  luck  again.  After  a  little  while  the  sons,  being  mar- 
ried, died  ; — bad  luck  still.  Naomi,  stripped  of  everything, 
denuded,  a  widow  and  a  stranger,  wandered  back  to  her 
former  home  ; — could  anything  be  more  dismal  ?  And  yet, 
these 'were  the  very  steps  by  which  she  came  into  pros- 
perity, not  only  into  the  re-establishment  of  herself  in  the 
household,  but  into  the  possession  of  the  property  of  her 
ancestors.  It  teaches  us  the  lesson  that,  when  troubles 
come,  if  we  bear  them  patiently  we  may  be  led  out  of 
them.  It  is  God's  way,  to  lead  men  out  of  trouble  into 
brightness.  If  one  has  been  struck  by  misfortune,  let  hirri 
not  sink  down  under  it,  but  remember  that  it  may  be  one 
of  the  instrumentalities  by  which  God  is  leading  him  to  a 
greater  prosperity. 


NAOMt  AND  RUTH.  435 

1  want  to  say  a  word  here  in  respect  to  Naomi.  She  was 
a  mother-in-law.  Ever  since  men  were  born  mothers-in- 
law  have  been  at  a  discount.  And  yet,  I  should  like  to 
know  how  a  man  is  going  to  have  a  wife  if  there  are  to  be 
no  mothers-in-law  !  And  is  it  not  time  that  there  should 
be  held  up  before  men  the  true  idea  of  this  relation  ?  I 
should  like  to  know  if  there  have  not  been  more  mothers- 
in-law  blessed  and  harmonious  than  mothers-in-law  dis- 
cordant and  evil.  Do  you  know  what  a  mother  is  ?  Do 
you  know  the  days  and  months  during  which  she  carries 
the  unborn  babe,  giving  her  very  blood  for  its  nourish- 
ment ?  Do  you  know  the  gate  of  outcry  and  anguish 
through  which  the  child  is  born  ?  Do  you  know  how 
again  the  mother  gives  herself  as  the  very  food  of  the  son 
or  daughter  over  whom  she  rejoices  ?  Do  you  know  how 
many  times  the  nights  are  turned  into  days  in  her  watch- 
fulness ?  Do  you  know  how  tired  she  often  becomes  from 
taking  double  labor  upon  herself  for  the  child's  sake?  Do 
you  know  how  impossible  it  is  in  sickness,  though  she  may 
be  more  sick  than  the  child,  to  weary  her  of  care  for  it  ? 
Do  you  know  how  patient  she  is  in  her  efforts  to  develop 
the  boy  or  the  girl  ?  As  she  trains  him  or  her,  what  fabrics 
of  courage  she  weaves !  what  visions  of  hope  she  forms  ! 
what  ambitions  she  conceives  !  what  sacrifices  she  makes  ! 
How  she  rolls  everything  in  life  over  upon  her  blessed  son, 
proud  of  his  growth  in  all  that  is  good,  exulting  in  his 
honor,  and  happy  in  his  love  !  And  when  at  last  he  comes 
to  years  of  majority,  and  selects  the  partner  of  his  life,  the 
mother  stands  still  to  see  him  carried  away  by  another,  to 
see  another  take  her  place  in  his  regard,  to  see  herself  dis- 
possessed, for  the  time  being,  of  the  enthusiasm  and  the 
affection  that  once  were  hers  ;  and  it  is  not  strange  that 
there  should  be  in  the  heart  of  even  the  best  woman  on 
earth  a  little  rebellion  under  such  circumstances. 

Yet,  mother,  be  patient  !  When  children  are  married, 
and  go  away  from  home,  they  ma}'  be  for  a  while  absorbed 
in  their  new  experiences  ;  but  as  soon  as  cares  and  troubles 
overtake  them  you  may  be  sure  that  they  will  come  back, 


436  -  BIBLE   STUDIES. 

with  more  love  and  trust  for  you,  and  more  need  of  you, 
than  ever  before.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  when  a 
mother  sees  that  for  which  she  has  given  her  life  taken 
possession  of  by  one  that  has  not  done  a  thing  for  it  except 
in  the  coinage  of  God's  mint  of  love,  that  she  should  pro- 
test for  a  season  ;  and  it  is  for  the  daughter-in-law  to 
remember  the  feelings  of  the  mother-in-law,  and  not  ever- 
lastingly think  that  the  mother-in-law  should  remember 
the  feelings  of  the  one  that  has  come  into  the  family.  It  is 
true  that  there  are  some  proud  and  selfish  mothers-in-law  ; 
and  it  is  just  as  true  that  there  are  some  proud  and  selfish 
daughters-in-law,  as  there  are  some  proud  and  selfish  chil- 
dren. And  let  me  say  that  I  think  some  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful examples  I  have  ever  known  in  life  have  been  those  of 
the  disinterested  love  of  mothers  to  those  that  have  come 
newly  into  the  household — to  sons'  wives  and  daughters' 
husbands  that  have  not  been  at  first  lovely,  but  have  been 
made  so  by  the  all-embracing  goodness  of  the  mother-in- 
law. 

One  of  the  most  delightful  tributes  paid  to  the  mother- 
in-law  that  I  ever  heard  was  that  of  one  of  our  foremost 
men,*  who  is  higlily  respected,  and  who,  on  his  wedding- 
night  said  to  the  mother  of  his  bride,  ''  Mother,  I  never 
before  knew  how  much  Adam  was  to  be  pitied,  who,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  could  not  have  had  a  mother-in-law." 

Surel}^,  Naomi  was  a  lovely  specimen  of  the  mother-in- 
law  ;  and  her  name  ought  to  redeem  from  unmerited  re- 
proach this  much-abused  class  of  women. 

Is  it  strange  that  the  little  fountain  head  of  the  streams 
that  flowed,  in  this  line  of  descent,  to  form  the  flood  that 
at  last  came  forth  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  should  have 
been  composed  of  such  characters  as  Ruth  and  David  ? 
And  might  it  not  be  expected — from  the  merely  human 
side,  even — that,  with  such  an  ancestry,  he  would  make  a 


*  Since  he  has  recently  passed  away,  honored,  beloved,  and  regretted  by 
the  whole  nation,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  state  that  this  was  George 
^Yilliam  Curtis. — Editor. 


NAOMI  AND  RUTH.  437 

grand  prophet  in  Israel,  and  bring  forth  such  perfect  fruit 
as  appeared  in  him  ? 

After  the  roar  of  battle,  when  the  army  is  removed  from 
the  field,  and  the  hospital  is  abandoned  ;  when  the  soldiers 
have  gone  home,  and  have  been  greeted,  with  music,  with 
social  exhilaration,  with  the  ringing  of  bells,  with  lights  in 
the  windows  ;  when  there  is  joy  in  every  home,  and  they 
have  settled  down  into  domestic  peace,  how  strange  is  that 
peace  in  contrast  with  the  rude  alarms  of  war  ! 

Out  of  the  turbulent  times,  the  dark  days,  of  the  Judges 
through  which  we  have  been  finding  our  way,  upon  what 
have  we  come  ?  This  sweet  idyl  of  Ruth,  in  which,  from 
beginning  to  end,  there  is  no  discord  ;  in  which  peace  flows 
unbrokenly  ;  and  in  which  are  manifested  the  purest  feel- 
ings of  patriotism  and  of  love.  The  whole  flow  of  the 
narrative  is  idyllic,  pastoral,  peaceful,  beautiful.  Its  sen- 
tences sound  in  our  ears,  after  we  are  done  reading  them, 
as  the  bell  in  the  belfry  still  warbles  through  the  air  long 
after  the  tongue  has  ceased  to  strike.  We  leave  it  as  a  vis- 
ion of  beauty,  a  rare  picture,  an  exquisite  portrayal,  made 
more  beautiful  because  it  comes  from  the  thunder  of  war, 
and  is  interjected  into  the  rude  manners  and  gross  moral- 
ity of  a  far-removed  age— beautiful  as  poetry,  beautiful  as 
a  drama,  and  yet  more  admirable  as  a  truth  of  history. 

And  now  we  may  turn  back  and  say,  Gbod-bye,  Samson, 
good-bye,  Jephthah,  good-bye,  Benjamin,  good-bye,  Gideon, 
good-bye,  Balak,  good-bye,  all  you  great  swart,  uncombed, 
harsh,  mighty  men,  fitted  for  times  of  convulsion  and  revo- 
lution! Having  said  farewell  to  them,  and  passed  through 
the  lovelier  scenes  of  Ruth,  we  have  set  our  face  forward 
toward  the  times  of  Samuel  and  Saul,  and  shall  begin  to 
behold  the  light  of  David's  day  and  the  Solomonic  glory. 
I  hope  to  be  able  at  a  future  time  to  take  up  again  the 
wonderful  history  from  this  point,  and  then  I  shall  rejoice 
as  the  watcher  rejoices  who  has  waited  through  the  night, 
and  sees  upon  the  horizon  the  first  beams  of  twilight— the 
harbinger  of  day. 


43^  BIBLE  STUDIES. 

We  have  come  to  the  close  of  this  series  of  informal 
readings  in  the  Jewish  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Covenant. 
The  term  Jew  has  been  a  word  of  contempt.  Among  the 
Jews,  as  among  us,  there  are  disreputable  classes.  There 
never  was  a  sea  so  pure  that  there  was  not  mud  at  the 
bottom  of  it  ;  and  there  never  was  a  race  so  pure  that 
there  was  not  a  muddy  class  within  it  :  but  this  Hebrew 
nation  have  brought  to  us  many  virtues,  many  sublime 
qualities  that  belong  to  manhood  ;  and  as  long  as  the  Old 
Testament  endures  we  ought  to  be  grateful  to  it,  and  to  the 
authors  of  it,  for  those  sources  and  fountains  of  moral  in- 
fluence which  have  enhanced  our  prosperity.  I  declare  to 
you  that  we  have  not  got  all  the  honey  out  of  the  lion 
yet ;  we  have  not  yet  plucked  all  the  flowers  nor  gathered 
all  the  grapes  that  grow  on  the  vines  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. When  we  walk  up  and  down  through  its  pages,  no 
longer  tied  by  a  superstitious  theory  of  verbal  inspiration, 
and  with  freedom  bring  our  reason  to  bear,  and,  as  eman- 
cipated men,  discriminate  between  truth  and  error,  right 
and  wrong,  we  shall  have  much  to  harvest  out  of  this 
book.  We  shall  learn  much  that  will  be  of  comfort  to 
us  in  trial.  We  shall  learn  much  of  what  the  father  is  or 
ought  to  be  to  the  family,  and  the  citizen  to  the  state. 
We  shall  learn  many  lessons  of  wisdom  adapted  to  children, 
and  to  the  young  people  when  they  set  up  for  themselves. 
It  is  a  book  full  of  the  most  precious  and  sacred  memories. 
It  is  a  record  of  the  experiences  of  four  thousand  years.  It 
contains  the  best  thoughts  of  the  best  men  that  the  world 
has  ever  seen. 

Stand,  then,  for  the  Word  of  God,  Make  it  a  light  to 
your  path  and  a  lamp  to  your  feet.  Let  it  be  your  guide 
in  the  way  of  righteousness.     Live  by  it,  and  die  in  its  hope. 


THE    END. 


^^The   Pulse-Beat 
of  the    Times." 


HE  Christian  Union  is  a  Family  Paper 
for  progressive  people  everywhere.  It  is 
a  paper  that  can  be  depended  on  to  tell 
comprehensively,  candidly  and  compactly 
what  is  going  on  in  the  world — that  provides  the  best 
reading  for  the  whole  family — that  is  wisely  progres- 
sive— that  looks  on  the  bright  side  of  life — that  enter- 
tains by  healthful  fiction — that  is  religious  without 
being  pietistic,  outspoken  without  being  unfair,  inde- 
pendent and  not  neutral  in  politics,  sociology,  and  all 
other  questions  on  which  good  men  differ.  It  is  em- 
phatically a  Paper  of  To-Day,  dealing  with  questions 
as  they  arise,  presenting  and  interpreting  the  news  as 
it  happens.  The  editors  are  Lyman  Abbott  and 
Hamilton  W.  Mabie.  The  price  for  a  year's  sub- 
scription is  I3.  What  progressive  men  think  of 
The  Christian  Union  is  illustrated  by  the  extracts 
from  recent  letters  which  are  appended  : 


Hon.  Henry  L.  Dawes,  United 
States  Senator,  of  Pittsfield,  Massa- 
chusetts, writes  :  "  I  could  not  do 
without  The  Christian  Union.  It  is 
high-toned,  liberal  and  progressive  in 
everything.  In  its  discussion  of  pub- 
lic questions,  as  well  as  in  its  position 
as  a  religious  newspaper,  it  is  both 
progressive  and  conservative,  able  and 
quick  to  discern,  avoiding  all  foolish- 
ness, and  full  of  inspiration  to  those 
who  are  inquiring  after  the  truth.  It  is 
a  power  for  good  wherever  it  goes." 


Dr.  C.  H.  Parkhurst,  Pastor  of 
the  Madison  Square  Presbyterian 
Church,  New  York,  writes:  "The 
paper  is  bright  and  crisp  and  abreast 
of  the  times.  Items  of  current 
interest,  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
are  treated  by  it  in  a  masterly  way. 
In  its  columns  one  feels  the  pulse- 
beat  of  the  times.  The  spirit  which 
animates  it  is  broad  and  generous, 
uncompromising,  but  recognizing 
good  wheresoever  it  is  to  be  found." 


Tbe  Christian  Union, 

CLINTON    HALL, 

Astor  Place,  New  York. 


l^ale  Xectures  on  preacbino. 

By   henry   ward    BEECHER. 

[''Zyman  Beecher  Lectureship''  Yale  Theological  Seminary^ 


THBEE  VOLUMES  IN  ONE. 


The  First,  Second  and  Third  Series  were  at  first  published  sepa- 
rately, aggregating  $4.25  in  price,  and  in  that  form  sold  nearly  20.000 
volumes.  The  present  edition  groups  the  three  series  in  one  volume,  at 
$2.00,  thus  bringing  this  most  helpful  and  famous  work  within  the 
reach  of  all. 

FIRST  SERIES:    Personal  Elements. 

IVkat  is  Preaching?  Qualifications  of  the  Preacher;  The  Personal  Element 
in  Oratory:  The  S-udy  o/  Human  Nature;  The  Psychological  Working  Ele- 
ments;  Rhetorical  Drill  and  General  Training;  Rhetorical  Illustrations; 
Health,  as  Related  to  Preaching;  Sermon-Making;  Love,  the  Central  Element 
0/  the  Christian  Ministry. 

SECOND   SERIES :    Social  and  Religious  Machinery. 

Choosing  the  Field;  Prayer;  The  Prayer  Meeting:  its  Methods  and  Bene- 
fits; The  Prayer  Meeting:  its  Helps  and  Hindrances;  Relatiotts  of  Music  to 
Worship:  Developtnent  of  Social  Elements;  BidleClasses,  Mission  Schools,  Lay 
Work;  The-  Philosophy  of  Revivals;  Revivals  Subject  to  La^v;  The  Conduct  of 
Revivals:  Bringing  Men  to  Christ. 

THIRD   SERIES:   Methods  of  Using  Christian  Doctrines. 

The  Preacher'' s  Book;  How  to  Use  the  Bible;  The  True  Method  of  Present- 
ing God;  Conception  of  the  Divinity;  Practical  Use  of  the  Divine  Ideal;  The 
Manifestation  of  God  through  Christ:  Views  of  the  Divine  Life  in  Human 
Conditions:  Sins  and  Sinfulness:  The  Sense  of  Personal  Sin;  The  Growth  of 
Christian  Life;  Christian  Manhood;  Life  and  Ivunortality. 


"  Of  intense  interest  to  every  minis- 
ter/''—  Watchman  (Baptist). 

"  Every  Theological  student,  young 
minister.  Bible-class  teacher  and  laborer 
in  mission-work,  will  be  profited  by  the 
study  of  this  thoughtful  and  interesting 
book."—  The  Episcopalian  (Philadel- 
phia). 

"  No  homiletic  advices  can  be  more 
practical,  as  none  can  be  more  exhilar- 
ating."— Christian  Register  (Unitarian, 
Boston). 

"  No  other  man  could  have  combined 
so  much  of  the  genuine  gospel  method 
of  teaching  and  preaching  int©  one 
xo\\ime^.^^— Methodist  Recorder  (Pitt-s- 
burgh). 


"Characteristically  sagacious,  sensi- 
ble, earnest,  brilliant,  witty  and  wise." 
Chicago  Advance  (Congregationalist). 

"  No  preacher  or  Christian  worker 
but  will  benefit  himself  and  others  by  a 
knowledge  of  the  principles  and  meth- 
ods of  one  of  the  foremost  preachers  of 
the  day." — Sunday  School  7"z;«^j  (Phila- 
delphia). 

"  The  secrets  of  successful  pulpit 
work  as  explained  by  one  of  its  mas- 
ters."— Baltimore  Presbyterian. 

"Many  of  the  sources  of  his  extraor- 
dinary power  are  clearly  set  forth  m 
these  criaracteristic  lectures."  —  Nezu 
York  Observer. 


FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT,  New  York. 


H  Valuable  /IDemortaU 


A  SUMMER  IN  ENGLAND 

WITH 

HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 

Giving  Seventeen  Sermons,  four  Popular  Lectures  ["  The  Reign  Kji 
the  Common  People,"  "  The  Wastes  and  Burden  of  Society,"  "Con- 
science," and  "  Evolution  and  Religion."  never  before  published]  and 
eight  Special  Addresses,  delivered  by  him  in  Great  Britain  during  the 
season  of  i8S6;  with  an  Account  of  the  lour,  expressions  of  British 
Public  Opinion,  and  Personal  Reminiscences.  Edited  by  James  B. 
Pond,  Mr  Beecher's  business  manager  and  traveling  companion. 

Crown  8vo,  702  pp  Artotype  Portrait  (1887)  and  7  pp  Autograph 
Fac-simile  of  MS.  Notes.     Garnet  cloth,  gilt  top,  %2. 

'■  They  have  almost  the  solemnity  and 
value  of  '  last  words.'  It  was  the  gath- 
ering of  strength  and  eloquence  before 
the  days  of  silence." — Phil.  Ledger, 

"  The  narrative  is  simple,  straight- 
forward, and  full  of  interesting  personal 
reminiscences.    .     .     .    The  volume  re- 


"  Valuable  records  [this,  and  the 
Speeches  in  England,  1863]  of  the  great 
orator's  two  very  memorable  visits  to 
the  Mother  Country— the  first  a  national 
service,  the  last  a  personal  gratifica- 
tion, such  as  fall  to  the  experience  of 
few  men."— 77z^  iVation  (N.  Y.). 

"The  'Summer'  being  the  last  of 
Mr.  Beecher's  life,  and  the  work  he  did 
in  his  'vacation'  being  almost  as  won- 
derful in  amount  and  in  mtiuence  as  any 
of  his  earlier  life." — The  Critic  (N.  Y.) 

"The  *  Reign  of  the  Comm^in  People,' 
one  of  the  lectures  most  called  for  in 
England,  is  the  best  thing  Beecher  ever 
put  to  the  consideration  of  a  thinking 
man." — Providence  Journal. 


fleets  great  credit  upon  its  editor." — 
£0  ton  Hom^  Joif>-nal. 

"  A  fertility  of  intellectual  production 
on  the  highest  lines  of  forensic  labor 
without  parallel."      The  Churchjnan. 

■'  The  triumphal  progress  was  a  fitting 
climax  to  a  remarkable  career." — Port- 
land Transcript. 


HIS    ONLY    NOVEL. 


By 


NORWOOD :    A  Tale  of  Village  Life  in  New  England. 
Henry  Ward  Beecher. 

When  Robert  Bonner  asked  Mr.  Beecher  to  write  a  story  for 
the  N'ew  York  Ledger,  the  clergyman  replied  that  he  had  no  hesita- 
tion about  doing  it  if  he  thought  he  could,  and  added: 

"  Scott  did  not  write  till  he  was  over  forty.  Who  knows  but  I  may  turn  out  a 
great  novelist,  and  have  it  said  when  I  am  dead  :  After  this  distinguished  nov- 
elist (who  also  sometimes  preached)  was  fifty  years  old,  he  was  found  out  by 
Robert  Bonner  to  have  a  turn  for  fiction,  etc.,  etc." 

The  effect  of  this  story  on  the  circu-  ]  "  Embodies  more  of  the  high  art  of 
lation  of  the  Ledger  justified  Mr.  Bon-     fiction  than   any  half-dozen  i-f  the  best 


ner's sagacity  and  enterprise;  and  when 
it  was  afterwards  issued  in  book  form,  it 
very  shortly  sold  over  60,000  copies.  It 
has  ever  since  remained  a  favorite  with 
those  who  delight  in  the  purity  and 
beauty,  the  shrewd  wit  and  homely 
wisdom,  the  quaint  and  sterling  char- 
acters and  the  genuine  rural  loveliness 
of  New  England  life. 


novels  of  the  best  authors  of  the  day. 
It  will  bear  to  be  read  and  re-read  as 
often  as  Dickens'  '  Dombey'  or  '  David 
Copperfield.'  " — Albany  Evening  Jour- 
nal. 

"  Wholesome  and  delightful,  to  be 
taken  up  again  and  yet  again  with  fresh 
pleasure," — Chicago  Standard, 


FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT,  New  York. 


PLYMOUTH  PULPIT  SERMONS 


BY 


HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

Four  Volumes,  covering  tlie  period  from  Sept.  1873  to  Sept.  1875. 

Aboitt  boo pj).  each,  Garnet  Cloth,  %i.^o per  vol. 


"The  late  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  was,  take  him  all 
in  all,  the  most  remarkable  preacher  and  orator  of  this  gener- 
ation. His  fertility  of  mind  was  inexhaustible.  The  publish- 
ers have  rendered  a  public  service  in  reprinting  in  a  convenient 
form  these  sermons.  .  .  .  Printed  on  good  paper  and  in 
good  type,  they  are  issued  at  a  price  which  will  put  them 
within  the  reach  of  hundreds  of  young  ministers  and  thous- 
ands of  laymen,  who  retain  their  relish  for  original  and  vigorous 
thought  presented  with  fervid  eloquence." — New  York 
Evangelist. 


Vol,  I, — Religion  in  Daily  Life ;  Forelookings :  Heroism;  Neiv  Testa 
ment  Theory  of  Evolutioti  ;  The  Atoning  God :  Prayer;  Man's  Two  Natures  ; 
All-Sidedness  iti  Christian  Life ;  Fact  and  Fancy ;  Cuba;  Moral  Teackingof 
Sujfering;  How  Goes  the  Battle  ?  Nature  of  Christ ;  Working  atid  IVaitiug ; 
What  is  Christ  to  Me?  Science  of  Right  Living ;  Religious  Constancy ;  Saul 
Poiuer  ;  Riches  of  God ;  St.  PauFs  Creed  ;  The  Departed  Christ ;  Naturalness 
of  Faith;  Spiritual  Manhood ;  The  Debt  of  Strength ;  Special  Providence ; 
Keep  ing  th  e  Fa  ith . 


Vol.  II, — Charles  Sumner ;  Saved  by  Hope;  The  Primacy  of  Love ; 
Foretokens  of  Resurrection  ;  Summer  in  the  Soul;  Hindering  Christianity  ; 
Soul-Relationship;  Christian  foyfulness ;  Liberty  in  the  Churches;  The 
Temperance  Questioti ;  God''s  Grace;  Ideal  Christianity;  Probleju  of  Life; 
Unjust  J udgmetits ;  Immortality  of  Good  Works;  The  Universal  Heart  of 
God;  Delight  of  Self  Sacrifice ;  Truth  Speaking;  The  Secret  of  the  Cross  ; 
Resolving  and  Doing  ;  Triumph  of  Goodness  ;  Following  Christ;  Prayer  and 
Providence;   What  is  Religion  ?  Christian  Sympathy  ;  Luminous  Hours. 

Vol,  III. — Law  and  Liberty  ;  Faint-Heartedness ;  As  a  Little  Child ; 
God''s  Will;  Present  use  of  Immortality  ;  The  Test  of  Church  Worth;  Peace 
in  Christ;  The  Indrvelling  of  Christ ;  The  End  and  the  Means  ;  Saved  by  Grace; 
Soul- Rest;  The  World's  Growth;  Foundation  Work;  The  Bible;  The  Work 
of  Patience  ;  Divine  Love  ;  Unworthy  Pursuits  ;  Trice  Righteousness  ;  Things 
of  the  Spirit;  Christian  Contentment ;  Moral  Standards ;  Trials  of  Faith  . 
Old  Paths  ;  Meekness,  a  Power  ;  Extent  of  the  Divine  Law  ;  Soul-Growth. 

Vol.   IV, — Christ  Life;   The  Courtesy  of  Conscience ;  Love^  the  Key  to 

Religion;  Christiattity  Social ;  Morality  and  Religion  ;  Laiv  of  Soul-Growth  ; 
Sources  and  Uses  of  Sujfering ;  God's  Dear  Children;  Grieving  the  Spirit; 
Working  and  Waiting;  The  Sure  Foundation  ;  N'urture  of  Noble  Impulse  . 
Solving  and  Reaping;  Soul  Statistics  ;  Secret  of  Christ'' s  Power  ;  The  Com- 
munion of  Saints ;  Christian  Life  a  Struggle;  The  Prodigal  Son;  Utii7'er- 
sality  of  the  Gospel ;  Economy  in  Small  Things;  Good  Deeds  Memorable; 
Divine  Indwelling;  Claiins  of  the  Spirit;  The  Kingdom  Within;  The  New 
Birth;  Perfection  Through  Love. 

RECENT   OPINIONS. 


"They  cover  the  period  of  Mr. 
Beechcr's  deepest  trouble,  1873-1875. 
and  the  period  in  which  his  preaching 
had  perhaps  the  ripest  thought  and  the 
deepest  spiritual  life,  .  .  .  the  rip- 
est and  best  portion  of  his  ministry." — 
Tlie  Christian  Union. 


'  'As  one  turns  these  wonderful  pages, 
it  is  hard  to  think  that  the  mind  which 
speaks  through  them  with  such  ever 
fresh  power  to  interest,  and  often  with 
such  tremendous  vitality  and  suasivc 
strength,  has  ceased  to  act  on  earth. ** 
—  The  Congregational ist,  Boston. 


FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HUi-BERT,  New  York. 


Evolution  and  Religion. 


By   henry   ward    BEECHER. 


PART  I.     Theoretical  and  Fundamental. — Eight  Sermons  dis 
cussing  the  bearings  of  the  Evolutionary  Philosophy  on  the  executive 
doctrines  of  Evangelical  Christianity.     Paper ,  50  cents. 

Introductory:  The  Signs  of  the  Times:  Evolution  in  Hiivtan  Consciousness 
of  the  Idea  of  God:  The  Two  Revelations:  The  Inspiration  of  the  Bible:  The 
Sinfulness  of  Man;  The  New  Birth:  Divine  Providence  and  Design;  Evolution 
and  the  Church. 

PART  II.  Practical  and  Vital. — Eighteen  Sermons,  with  ap- 
plications of  the  Evolutionary  Philosophy  to  religious  thought  and  life. 
PapeVf  $1, 

Introductory:  The  Background  of  Mystery:  The  Manifold  Christ:  The 
Conversion  of  Force:  The  Drift  of  the  Ages:  The  Hidden  Man:  The  Rest  of 
God:  God's  Loving  Providence;  New  Testament  Theory  of  Evolution:  God's 
Goodness  Man's  Salvation;  Poverty  and  the  Gospel;  God  in  the  World;  fesus 
the  True  Ideal;  The  Grotuth  of  Creation;  The  Battle  of  Life;  The  Liberty  of 
Christ;  Concord,  not  Unison;  The  Liberty  and  Duty  of  the  Pulpit;  The  Vitality 
of  God's  Tr  11111. 


Parts  I  and  11,  boiitid  together  in  Cloth, 
440  2}ages,  $1,50. 


"The  spell  of  Mr.  Beecher's  genius 
has  never  been  more  powerfully  e.xerted 
than  in  these  sermons.  His  imagination 
was  never  more  fervid  and  creative,  nor 
his  rhetoric  finer.  One  is  amazed  at 
the  sustained  intellectual  vigor  that  at 
so  advanced  an  age  is  still  so  fresh  and 
productive.'^ — Living  Church,Ch\Cdigo. 

"His  intellectual  vigor  has  never 
been  questioned,  and  many  will  read 
with  interest  what  he  here  puts  forth  as 
the  matured  convictions  of  a  lifetime 
devoted  to  the  study  of  the  subjects 
herein  treated."— 5"rt«  Francisco  Bul- 
letin. 

"  He  casts  upon  the  great  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  the  Church,  in  suc- 
cussion,  the  light  of  the  Evolutionary 
theory;  and  those  who  felt  assured  be- 
fore of  their  firm  foundation,  must  yet 
confess  that  they  take  on  new  beauty 
and  meaning  under  this  light,  while 
many  will  owe  to  this  illumination  no 
less  than  the  renewal  of  a  lost  belief." 
Sacra  mento  Record-  Un  ion . 


"  The  discourses  [Sermons  in  Part  I] 
are  clear,  sober,  solid  thought.  Each 
link  in  the  chain  is  complete  and  per- 
fect in  iiseU."  — Cornell  Rez'ieiv. 

"Everyone  [Sermons  in  Part  II]  is 
full  and  overflowing  with  stimulating 
thought,  fresh  views  of  great  truths 
grown  stale  by  monotony  of  iteration, 
inspiring  impulses  and  strong  mount- 
ings of  devotion  toward  God,  earnest 
benevolence  and  goodwill  toward  man, 
loyalty  to  Christ,— and  in  fact  a  gospel 
of  good  sense  and  hopeful  Christianity, 
wrought  out  of  a  reverent  study  of 
God's  ways  of  working  in  nature — 
physical,  social,  mental,  moral,  and 
spiritual." — Providence  Star. 

"  It  seems  to  me  you  keep  all  the 
most  choice  and  precious  things,  only 
placing  them  on  the  right  foundation; 
and  how  they  can  stand  much  longer  on 
the  old  foundation  I  do  not  see.  ... 
Surely  your  book  will  bring  light  to 
many." — From  a  Presbyterian  Clergy- 
man^ 


FORDS,  H0V7ARD,  &    HULBERT,  New  York. 


iRotable  an5  Unteresting  IReligious  Books. 


Signs  of  Promise. 

Sermons  Preached  in  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn,  1887-1889. 

By  LYMAN  ABBOTT,  D.D. 

Eighteen  T)iscom'ses.     I'-inio,  cloth,  gilt  top.     Price,  $1.50. 

"  '  Signs  of  Promise'  is  the  fit  title  of  the  first  volume  of  sermons 
preached  in  Pl3'mouth  Pulpit  since  its  greatest  occupant  passed  from 
earth.  By  all  logical  and  intellectual  inheritance,  that  pulpit  is  now 
worthily  filled.  .  .  .  The  Plymouth  preacher  of  to-day  shows  us 
that  God  is,  and  not  merely  that  he  was.  His  words  thrill  with  the 
currents  of  hope  born  of  a  survey  of  the  past  and  making  contact  with 
the  unseen  future.  .  ...  All  of  these  sermons  are  strong,  helpful  and 
suggestive,  and  reveal  the  true  prophet." — 77ie  Critic,  New  York. 

thor's  theology;  one  may  be  a  Buddhist 


'"Clear  and  compact,  and  palpitate 
with  the  influences  of  the  time.  .  .  .  One 
cannot  read  these  sermons  without  be- 
ing  impressed  with  the  ability  v.'ith 
which  the  subjects  are  handled,  and 
with  many  glowincr  passages  which  are 
eminently  spiritual  and  uplifting." — 
{Christian  Intellif^encer^  New  York. 

■'  One  of  the  favorite  assertions  of  that 
supremely  irritating  created  thing,  the 
infidel  who  has  not  sufficient  strength  of 
mind  to  believe  in  aught  but  himself,  is 
that  Christianity  is  behind  the  times,  is 
incapable  of  grappling  with  the  prob- 
lems of  every-day  life,  and,  indeed, 
blinds  itself  to  their  existence;  and  as 
this  kind  of  infidel  is  common,  and  his 
cuckoo  cry  is  all  but  continuous,  it  is  a 
pleasure  now  and  then  to  encounter  a 
volume  of  sermons  showing  the  keenest 
sensitiveness  to  current  topics  of  inter- 
est.    One  need  not  agree  with  the  au- 


or  a  Mohammedan  and  yet  enjoy  the 
manner  in  which  such  an  one  will  at- 
tack and  rout  this  species  of  infidel.'" — 
Boston  Herald. 

"  Dr.  Abbott  is  no  copyist,  but  a  man 
strong  in  his  own  peculiar  powers  and 
gifts." — Christ iafi  Register. 

"  Full  of  earnest  and  vigorous  thought 
and  are  eminently  stimulating.  Even 
those  who  do  not  altogether  agree  with 
the  author's  theolo.gical  positions  will 
fird  much  to  be  admired  here  and  little 
to  be  condemned." — Congrc^atiovaUst. 

"  A  clew  to  Dr.  Abbott's  Beecher-like 
reception  of  all  revelation,  in  Scripture 
nature  or  life,  and  to  his  ability  to  keep 
abreast  with  the  stream  of  such  revela- 
tion as  it  widens  continually  between 
the  opposite  but  not  opposing  banks 
of  theology  and  science." — Brooklyr 
Eagle. 


Spirit  and  Life. 

Thoughts   for   To-Day. 
By    AMORY    H.    BRADFORD,    D.D., 

First  Cong.  Church,  Montclair,  N.  J. 

Tivelve  Discourses.    IGtno,  vellum  cloth.    Price,  $1.00, 

"  It  is  evident  to  the  laical  mind  that  a  certain  tender,  serious,  hu- 
mane spirit  possesses  men  of  this  class,  urging  them  to  work  for  the 
good  of  man  and  the  glory  of  God  in  nobler  fashion,  broader  ways,  than 
purely  metaphysical  schemes  can  ever  hope  to  instigate." — Boston  Post. 


"We  commend  his  volume  heartily  to 
those  of  our  readers  who  desire  to  get 
an  appreciative  and  wholly  uncontro- 
versial  interpretation  of  the  Bible  which 
God  is  writing  continuously  in  human 
hearts."—  Tke  Christian   Union.,  N.  Y. 

'•Rarely  has  there  been  published  in 
this  country  a  finer  volume  of  sermons, 
of  sermons  more  worthy  of  publication, 


or  better  fitted  to  be  of  actual  helpful- 
ness to  Christian  thought  and  the  spirit 
ual  life.''  — The  Advance,  Chicago. 

"The  best  modern  preaching  deals 
with  spiritual  wants  and  vital  truths. 
Judged  by  this  test,  the  sermons  before 
us  are  worthy  to  be  classed  among  the 
best  sermons  of  the  day." — New  Eng 
lander  and   Yale  Revieiu. 


FORDS,  HOWARD,  &   HULBERT,  New  York. 


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DATE  DUE 

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